Rice Cakes With Peanut Sauce and Hoisin

Name: Rice Cakes With Peanut Sauce and Hoisin
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: Kosher salt; 2 pounds rice cake sticks or sliced rice cakes, fresh or frozen; 2 tablespoons neutral oil such as vegetable or grapeseed; 1 tablespoon soy sauce; 1/2 pound yu choy or other Asian greens, halved lengthwise; 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce, diluted with 1 teaspoon water; 2 scallions, finely sliced; 1 tablespoon toasted white sesame seeds; 1/3 cup smooth peanut butter (natural or emulsified); 3 tablespoons hot water; 1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar; 1 garlic clove, grated; 1 teaspoon soy sauce

By Hetty Lui McKinnon

Published Dec. 10, 2022

Rice Cakes With Peanut Sauce and Hoisin — Kate Sears for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.

Total Time: 20 minutes
Rating: 4(662)
Comments: Read comments

This vegan dish is reminiscent of the classic Cantonese dim sum of fried cheung fun, or steamed rice noodle rolls, which is served with two contrasting sauces: a caramelly hoisin sauce and a nutty sesame sauce. In this recipe, tenaciously chewy rice cakes are stir-fried until crispy, then smothered in a sweet and earthy peanut sauce and finished with syrupy hoisin. Rice cakes deserve to be a pantry staple for many reasons: They can be used as a filling substitute for short pasta, added to stews or quickly pan-fried with your favorite sauce. Sold in Chinese or Korean markets, they come in tubes (like those used in tteokbokki) or sliced disks, and are packaged in vacuum-sealed packs or frozen, so they keep for ages. If you’re looking for a suitable substitute, you could use fresh rice noodle rolls, or even gnocchi.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

For the Rice Cakes

Kosher salt
2pounds rice cake sticks or sliced rice cakes, fresh or frozen
2tablespoons neutral oil such as vegetable or grapeseed
1tablespoon soy sauce
½pound yu choy or other Asian greens, halved lengthwise
2tablespoons hoisin sauce, diluted with 1 teaspoon water
2scallions, finely sliced
1tablespoon toasted white sesame seeds

For the Peanut Sauce

⅓cup smooth peanut butter (natural or emulsified)
3tablespoons hot water
½tablespoon granulated sugar
1garlic clove, grated
1teaspoon soy sauce

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the rice cakes and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until softened. Drain and refresh under cold water.
Step 2
Meanwhile, make the peanut sauce: In a medium bowl, place the peanut butter, hot water, sugar, garlic and soy sauce, and whisk together until combined. Set aside.
Step 3
Heat a large (12-inch) nonstick skillet or wok on medium high. (Check the drained rice cakes. If they are sticking together, rinse them with cold water and gently toss to separate before adding them to the pan.) When the pan is hot, add the neutral oil and rice cakes, and toss to combine. Add soy sauce and stir-fry for 6 to 8 minutes, until the rice cakes begin to caramelize. (If more than a few clump together, add a tablespoon of water at a time and break them up with your spatula.) Add the yu choy and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes, until the greens are wilted. Turn off heat, add the peanut sauce and toss to coat.
Step 4
To serve, drizzle with the diluted hoisin sauce, scatter with scallions and finish with sesame seeds.

Ratings

4 out of 5

662 user ratings

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Comments

Liz3 years ago

Soaked my (disc) cakes in room temp water for 25-30 mins and made sure none were stuck together. They caramelized beautifully and this is now my favorite way to prepare them! Added 2tsp ginger and 1tsp lime juice to the peanut sauce. Sooooo good.

Dan3 years ago

None of the measurements in the recipe seem critical as to precision. Use whatever amount of rice cake you feel like eating, eyeball the rest of the ingredients for the rice cakes (skip the scallions? - unless you have one at hand and feel like chopping one of them) Make the full recipe for the peanut sauce, use the leftover tomorrow (or pretty soon) mixed with some spicy oil or hot sauce, pour over thin noodles as a side dish or app.

David3 years ago

In past experiences with Korean sliced rice cakes, I’ve found that the sequence stir fry -> boil works well. To keep with the spirit of the recipe, I decided to reverse the sequence. Not so good. The taste was great in the end. But the rice cakes clung to the side of the wok like barnacles to a whale. It’s a while since dinner and the wok is still soaking as I try to remove them. I will return to the tried and true next time.

FoodIn_FoodOut2 months ago

Peanut sauce was not creamy or spreadable, and the flavor was quite bland. Had to add rice vinegar, gochujang, + another T of water. My rice cakes never crisped up and caramelized. Maybe that would have helped, but overall I didn't find the flavors and textures worked will together. If I were to make again, ditch the peanut sauce, use hoisin to flavor the whole lot. Mix up the veg for some color: greens, carrots, red/green pepper. Top with toasted, crushed peanuts or cashew.

Leonie5 months ago

I didn't love this. I soaked the rice cake and stir-fried it as written, and the consistency turned out well. But I just thought this was sort of bland. I definitely used too much peanut butter, but I found the flavour profile in general sort of boring.

Jane5 months ago

This was ok. I soaked the rice cakes for two hours and stir fried them, consistency was good. I messed it up because I had less rice cakes and forgot to reduce the amount of peanut butter. I washed the peanut butter off, and then it was fine. I swear usually my cooking isn't this chaotic.

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