Dukk Bok Gee

Someone really needs to tell me how to spell the name of this dish (I suspect it's actually duk bok gee).

It infuriates me that Korean, which has such a logical, standardized, near-perfect written form, has no standard English phoneticization. Dukk is one of my favorite foods. I've made it so many times I don't really have a recipe, but here's a photo walk-through.

Collect ingredients. You must have dukk separated and soaking in hot water. I have a can of garlic that I pureed in the food processor and keep in the fridge. I eat a lot of garlic. Mild miso is a plus but not necessary. Gochujiang (Korean chili paste) is a must. Something spicy--I chose a jalepeno and four tiny red peppers. Onions and napa kimchi round out today's version. Vegetables like spinach or zucchini are also good, as are fish cakes.

Sear jalepenos over an open flame to char the outside. Char=flavor. Char also=fun, if you haven't tried it.

Sautee the gochujiang, miso, garlic, and peppers together until fragrant and slightly charred.

Sautee the onions until soft, then pan fry the dukk until they're brown on all sides. Add the gochujiang mix, two tablespoons of any kind of sugar, and the kimchi to the rice cakes and stir to mix. Add a cup of water or chicken stock (I used water and boullion today). Simmer, covered, for half an hour to let the dukk absorb all the flavors. You can simmer this as long as you like, or add a cornstarch slurry to thicken. You can tell today's dukk was thicker than last time's (below) because I used cornstarch.

My last dukk post