Savory Stuffed Yomogi (Mugwort) Rice Cakes
Around now (March) is when mugwort is popping up in the garden which means it’s time to start weeding it. If I don’t, it inevitably becomes an unmanageable mess, and most people view it as a noxious and invasive weed. It is and it isn’t, since while it does spread very fast and dense via underground rhizomes, it is also a delicious spring veggie in Asia.
Called ai cao in Chinese, Ssuk in Korean, and Yomogi in Japanese, it is often pounded into rice cakes. However, as it grows older, the herbal flavor becomes very strong and, to me, inedible. I like it now that it is still you g and tender, flavorful but not overpowering.
Hilariously, I sighed when I was looking around because I felt I had so much to weed, but once I got started I realized I may not have enough to make the dishes that I want.
Happily, I did gather enough and made some delicious grilled rice cakes. Normally it would be stuffed with sweetened red bean but I personally prefer savory rice cakes over sweet so I made a simmered chicken stuffing.
You can stuff it with sweet red bean paste too! It honestly is delicious either way.
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh mugwort leaves
- 1 cup rice flour
- 1.5 cup water
- Salt
- 1 cup ground chicken (or pork)
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sake
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- Black pepper to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon corn starch
- 1 teaspoon cooking oil
- Saute ground chicken with minced garlic until garlic is fragrant. Combine soy sauce, same, sugar, corn starch, and black pepper and add slurry to pan. When sauce has thickened, allow to cool and set to the side.
- Combine water and rice flour and steam in a rice cooker for about 30 minutes.
- Blanch mugwort in boiling salted water and ice bath. Mince either by hand or in a food processor. Add to rice dough and knead thoroughly.
- Flatten dough into balls on cling wrap and add a small spoonful of chicken and seal into a round disc.
- Grill in a cast iron pan until lightly charred and crispy. Serve hot.