Guchujang Meatball Gnocchi | The Happy Marriage of Italian pasta and Korean sauce

When I first arrived in the US seven years ago, I craved for rice cakes ("tteokbokki" in Korean; "年糕"(niangao) in Chinese very much. Of course, I couldn't find any in a standard American grocery store. Instead, I found a bag of shell shaped doughs that wrote "gnocchi". In retrospect, I was glad I gave it a try that day as I found gnocchi and rice cakes taste very similar.

Though I learned that gnocchi is in effect Italian pasta made with potato instead of rice flour, I've still enjoyed cooking them in an Asian way, be it stir-fried gnocchi or curry gnocchi.

Today, I am introducing you a Korean version of gnocchi recipe: gochujang gnocchi with meatballs, basil, American cheese, and parmesan. I got the inspiration from Korean tteokbokki. If you want to find out what sweet and spicy gnocchi tastes like, I highly recommend you give it a try.

How to Make Gochujang Gnocchi?

Prep Time 5 mins

Cook Time 30 mins

Total Time 35 mins

INGREDIENTS

For the Sauce

• 1 tablespoon of gochujang (Korean spicy sauce)

• 2 tablespoons of coke (or 2 tablespoons of water + 1 tablespoon of sugar)

• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon of cooking wine (or red wine)

• 1 tablespoon of Korean chili powder

• a little bit salt and black pepper if needed

For the Dish

• 1 bag of gnocchi

• 2 cloves of garlic

• 10 meatballs (I use frozen ones; you are welcome to make them from scratch)

• 1 small bunch of fresh basil

• 1 slice of American cheese (or any cheese)

• 1 teaspoon of parmesan

• 1 teaspoon of sesame seeds

• 50ml of water

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Slice the Garlic into thin slices; making our sauce;

2. Deep fry the meatballs till they turn dark brown. A bit charred is fine. It usually takes 10 minutes. If you have an air fryer, it takes 12 minutes.

3. Prepare a pan on high heat, sprinkle some canola or vegetable oil, add gnocchi; sear the gnocchi on medium heat till both sides turn golden brown. It takes about 10 minutes. Then remove the gnocchi from pan.

4. Leave the pan on medium heat, add the garlic slices, stir fry for about 30 seconds till you smell the garlic fregrance; add the deep-fried meatballs; add two tablespoon of the sauce to the pan; add 50ml water and simmer for 3 minutes;

5. Add American cheese; you may find the sauce quickly thickens; add gnocchi and stir well; make sure gnocchis are evenly wrapped with the sauce;

6. Finish with adding basil, sesame seeds, pamersan, and serve on a plate.

Step 3

step 4

step 5-6

Because the soft and chewy texture of gnocchi, they can be perfect replica of rice cakes. The sweet and spicy flavor of Korean gochujang sets the overall tone of the dish. Meatball, cheese, and, and basil leaves retains some Italian spirit. Each bite is full of flavor and fragrance. Korean and Italian cuisines can have a happy marriage.

---

Recipe by Bing Sheng of Theory of Food. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.

Make tofu the Chinese way | The "homestyle tofu"

In China, there is a popular tofu dish almost every family will make at home. It is called "homestyle tofu". The name sounds ambiguous right? In fact, just as there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes, there can be a thousand recipes for homestyle tofu for a thousand household. However, there are some rules that can be applied to "homestyle tofu" that make it a distinct species compared to other tofu friends.

• First, the tofu is often sliced into thin squares and deep fried.

• Second, homestyle tofu is a stir-fry dish.

• Third, other than our hero tofu, you may add as much ingredients as you want as long as they do not steal the thunder.

The typical ingredients people mix together with tofu in this dish include ground pork, wood ear, green pepper, red chili pepper, onion, green onion, shiitake mushroom, bean paste, etc.

The recipe presented by me is vegetarian and MSG-free. It uses only a few ingredients, which you may easily get at grocery stores such as Whole Foods or some Asian markets in the US.

How to Make Homestyle Tofu?

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Total Time 30 mins

INGREDIENTS

• 1 box of firm tofu

• 2 shoots of green onion

• 3 pieces of shiitake mushrooms

• 2 tablespoon of soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce (if you like gluten and MSG free, recommend the Lee Kum Kee green bottle)

• 1 tablespoon of sugar or half a packet of splenda

• 1 table spoon of cooking wine

• a pinch of salt and pepper if needed

• 50ml of water

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Slice tofu into 1.6"*1.6"squares with 0.2" thickness; thin slice the shiitake mushrooms; slice green onion into the diamond shape.

2. Deep fry the tofu squares till they turn gold brown both sides. It usually takes 10-12 minutes.

3. Prepare a new pan on high heat, sprinkle some canola or vegetable oil, add the white part of green onion and shiitake mushroom slices, and still fry for about 1 minute. Leave the green part of green onion aside for later use.

4. Turn to low heat, add soy sauce, sugar, oyster sauce, and water, and let the sauce simmer for about 1 minute.

5. Add the deep fried tofu, salt, and cooking wine. Make sure all tofu slices are evenly wrapped with the sauce. Let it simmer on low heat for another 5 minutes till the sauce thickens.

6. Add the green part of green onion and serve on a plate.

It is that easy, isn't it? Within 30 minutes, you can get an authentic taste of Chinese homestyle dish. The savory sauce is a great balance to the bland flavor of tofu. Once deep fried, the skin of tofu is no longe slippery and is well suited to grab the sauce. The soft and chewy texture of shiitake mushroom is a perfect add-on to tofu itself. I can assure you even a non-tofu lover would love this dish.

---

Recipe by Bing Sheng of Theory of Food. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.