ddukboki. (Spoiler: no duck involved)

So this....

is called ddukboki (떡복이). Think of it like a Korean version of KD Mac and Cheese - quick, delicious, and popular among the lazy, culinary degenerates commonly known as students. Basically, it's chewy rice cake chunks boiled in a sweet, spicy red pepper sauce. It's sold everywhere at street food carts and diners in Korea. The best part about this particular dish - apart from its taste, obviously - is that it's super easy to make. This is the recipe I followed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUmBqvMv89E

So if you managed to make it through the entire thing, with the atrocious soundtrack and all, this is pretty much the standard recipe for ddukboki. There are always variations to the original, of course, depending on your personal taste. I like to add instant noodles to mine, personally, because I'm a staunch believer in healthy eating. Some people add in hard-boiled eggs, whole and peeled.

Basically, if you have red pepper paste (found at your local Korean/Japanese grocery store, but sometimes sold at other places too), sugar, rice cakes (it has to be the type you see in the video, otherwise it won't work), you can make it work. Be careful not to add too much sugar to this! I don't use anchovies like that lady does, though. It probably gives it some kind of a savoury twist, but it's not necessary.

So if you pull it off, it will look something like this:

If it ends up looking like this, though...

Something may have gone wrong. Just sayin'.