Spicy Rice Cakes - A Maplestory Food Adventure

Food and games often go together. There are often nice "food" inside some of the games I played. Neopets' omelettes were briefly introduced in my previous post. Now I shall touch on some of the "food" found in the game, Maplestory. It is not just all about monsters!

I sought the help of my friend, oOKopiTehXx to aid me in this Maple Food Search Adventure. This was not just a simple tour because an amount of travel risk was needed to obtain the food screenshots! A number of monsters have also been sacrificed during the entire process... At the end of journey, all oOKopiTehXx asked from me was a plate of Spicy Rice Cakes made from some of the ingredients he managed to gather.

Before I write about his food journey, below is a description of my lil helpful friend and his travel ship. This private ship can bring him to most of the continents in a mere 3 minutes

His journey begins...

In Maplestory, a variety of food are usually sold in Pharmacies and Grocer stalls together with other potions though it might not seem appropriate to place medicine and food together. These are traded in the game currency aka Mesos earned by hunting mobs. There are common foods as well as special ones depending on which place oOKopiTehXx had landed. He took screenshots of both types and consolidated them into major continents.

Area 1: Zipangu
This is a Japanese themed continent with 4 major towns namely, Mushroom Shrine, Showa Town, Ninja Castle and Neo Tokyo. oOKopiTehXx was only able to access the first three towns due to level constraint. Anyway he managed to check out the food stalls at Mushroom Shrine and Showa Town and was pleasantly delighted by their menu!

Area 2: Overseas
oOKopiTehXx missed Southeast Asian cuisine a lot so he chose to fly to the land of Singapore for a visit and travel to the place of Malaysia from there. He was extremely happy that the food stalls there had most of his favourite local specialities. He could not wait to show us.

Area 3: Other Continents (Common Food)
It was not as easy gathering information about the rest of the food in Maplestory. He had to...
1. Warp over to the alien city of Omega Sector 
2. Climb up 100-storeys Ludibrium Tower to find the candy machine 
3. Take elevator down to Korean Town
4. Swim across the Aqua Road ocean to the town of El Nath, 
5. Jump up 20 storeys of Orbis tower to check out one of the biggest grocer
6. Fly in his ship to several major towns like Ariant, Edelstein, Leafre, Magatia, Mu Lung N Herb Town, and the individual towns in Victoria continent
Finally he was able to confidently list out most of the common foods!

Back Home: oOKopiTehXx's Request
He finally landed home so tired and starving that he could eat an elephant. All he wanted was some comforting food like Spicy Rice Cakes. He showed me the ingredients and after which, he began telling me how he got them (Okok I'm the Panda)...

Spicy Rice Cakes Recipe: Serves 2

Ingredient 1: Korean Ricecakes (15 - 20 pieces)

(Obtained from Moonbunny Party Quest)

Ingredient 2: Dried Anchovies (A small handful, soaked and minced)

(Obtained from Orbis Tower, Jr. Pepes)

Ingredient 3: Half Small White Onion (sliced thinly)

(Obtained from Ellinia, Green Slimes)

Ingredient 4: Red Pepper Paste ( 1 tablespoonful)

(Obtained from combining Zipangu's Firebomb flame and Ardentmill's Magic Red Powder)

Ingredient 5: Small Carrot (sliced into cubes)

(Obtained from Ariant, Desert Rabbits)

Ingredient 6: One Pork Belly Strip (sliced thinly)

(Obtained from Korean Folk Town, Chil Sung's Quest)

Ingredient 7: Rice Wine (1 Tablespoon)

(Obtained from Korean Folk Town, Kong Ji's Quest)

Ingredient 8: Pure Water (1 china bowl / 300ml)

(Obtained from most grocers)

Ingredient 9: Healthy Oil from Chef's own collection (1 tablespoon)

Ingredient 10 *Optional: Chopped Kimchi (1 tablespoon)

METHOD:

1. Heat Oil in a deep pan over medium low heat

2. Add Dried Anchovies and Onions to stir fry till fragrant

3. Add Carrots and Pork Belly to stir fry till carrots are partially soft (Image 1.)

4. Add Water and Red Pepper Paste to stir with the ingredients (Image 2.)

5. Cover pan with lid and simmer for 5 minutes

6. Add Korean Rice Cakes and Kimchi into the pan and stir till they soften (Image 3.)
7. Cover pan with lid and simmer for 15 minutes for gravy to be absorbed

8. Drizzle in Rice Wine (add more water into the pan if gravy is too thick) (Image 4.)

9. Serve the Spicy Rice Cakes HOT from the pan! Decorate the dish with a stalk of parsley.

Here's your Plate of Spicy Rice Cakes, oOKopiTehXx! Hope you like it!