Welcome back to another post on my food blog! 🙂 Today’s post is another original Korean-Italian fusion recipe that I’ve developed called “Lamb Ragu Rice Cake”. This dish basically fuses the most delicious, rich and savory ragu sauce with garaetteok. I’ve made this many times now and concluded that it is an excellent rice cake dish and caters to all palates.
Why did I decide to use ragu in ddukbokki?
Ragu sauce is one of my favorites in the realm of Italian cuisine. It’s really a delicious tomato-based sauce that ANYONE can enjoy, even your kids.
Rice Cakes or 떡 is definitely a personal favorite of mine ever since I was young. I eat all kinds of rice cakes and I eat it in everything. Seriously, everything! My mom always thought I was weird for putting it in my kimchi jigaes or dwenjang jigaes. It’s really good! Take my word for it, you should give it a try. Sometimes, I even eat just fresh garaetteok straight up with a little bit of sesame oil as a snack when I’m hungry. It’s to die for.
My only drawback for this dish would be that it takes time to really extract great flavor from the sauce. If you want this to be a weeknight meal, make sure you warn your family or friends that it’ll take at least 45 minutes to prepare. But the wait will surely be worth it! Otherwise, definitely save this one for a weekend meal when you have the time to really invest into making this delicious sauce.
Tip: Lamb is a personal preference of mine and I know not a lot of people love it. Your audience may not enjoy the taste (or worse, they may not even eat it all), so please make sure you know your audience and use a different choice of meat for the sauce.
That’s all I have for you for this Lamb Ragu Rice Cake. My family loved this fusion recipe and I hope to see you all love it as well. So lets get it!
Ground Lamb – you may substitute with ground beef or chicken (if you don’t like lamb)
Pancetta – provides great salty & fatty flavor
Rice Cakes – main starch component (may use fresh homemade or store-bought)
Onions, Carrots, Celery – Mirepoix for the ragu sauce
Garlic, Rosemary, Bay Leaf – Aromatics (may substitute rosemary with thyme)
Red Wine – to deglaze the pan + intensify the flavor
Canned Tomatoes – Use canned tomatoes vs fresh for the more densely packed and amplified concentration of flavor. You may use crushed or diced.
Tomato Paste – double concentrated (you may use regular if you can’t find)
Beef Broth – used for the sauce
Lamb Ragu Rice Cake
Luxurious, decadent, and delicious. This amazing Lamb Ragu sauce pairs perfectly with the soft and chewy rice cakes to make the ultimate Korean-Italian fusion dish. Introducing.. Lamb Ragu Rice Cake!
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground lamb
- 1 lb rice cakes (this recipe is using freshly store-bought garaetteok)
- 1/4 cup (2 oz) Pancetta, cubed
- 1 medium onion (4-5 oz), finely diced
- 1 carrot (2 oz), finely diced
- 1 celery (2 oz), finely diced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup red wine (any rich red wine will do)
- 1-15 oz can tomatoes, diced or crushed
- 2 tbsp (3 oz) tomato paste
- 1 1/2 cups beef broth
- 2 sprigs rosemary (may substitute with thyme)
- 1-2 bay leaves
Instructions
In a medium size Dutch oven or stock pot, pour in some olive oil and cook your ground lamb and diced pancetta on medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes until browned.
Meanwhile, finely chop your onions, carrots, and celery into uniform pieces. Mince garlic and set aside.
Remove the meats from the pot and set aside. Add in your onions and cook on med-high heat for 2 minutes, until they are translucent in color. Then, add in your carrots and celery and sweat them down for about 3 minutes (while stirring occasionally). Now, throw in your minced garlic and let it cook for about 30 more seconds until beautifully fragrant.
Next, pour in some red wine and let it reduce for about a minute.
Stir in 15 oz (or about 2 cups) of canned crushed/diced tomatoes into the pot along with 2 tbsp of tomato paste. Let it sit for about a minute and then bring your meats back into the pot.
Add 1 1/2 cups of beef broth, 2 sprigs of rosemary and 2 bay leaves. Bring it to a boil. Then, reduce heat to med-low and let it simmer for about 30-40 minutes, until sauce has thickened to a perfectly smooth and meaty consistency. Turn off heat.
In a clean non-stick pan, pour in some oil and sauté your rice cakes on med-high heat for about 2 minutes, constantly flipping them until evenly cooked and slightly toasted on each side.
Then, ladle in your sauce above the rice cakes and mix until nice and thick.
Plate it up, and garnish with your favorite garnishes, like basil, parsley, or grated cheese (optional). Enjoy!
Please let me know what you think in the comments section below. And don’t forget to tag me on instagram @yang.yummm when you share your finished product!
Thank you! See you next time.
