Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Korean Spicy Pork (Dwaejibulgogi)

One of the most versatile recipes that I use in cooking because it can be used so many different ways. This pairs nicely with white rice and kimchi. Slide these on a skewer and bbq this on the grill with your favorite veggies for that perfect bbq treat. I prefer making ssäm (wrap) with lettuce. In the lettuce wrap you can add rice if you wish. I opt not to use rice, but I often will grill garlic and place it into the wrap, sometimes kimchi, or Korean perilla (also known as seasame seed leaf). Add whatever makes your mouth happy.

You can add a little rice, grilled garlic, kimchi, or Korean perilla
This is called "spicy" because of the use of gochujang sauce, which is red chili flakes, rice powder, sweet rice powder, and powdered soybeans, however with the sweet rice powder it adds a sweetness to the sauce. This sauce is a main staple to Korean cooking, as well as flavoring wraps (ssäm). My two teenagers do not believe this to be a hot sauce, but my youngest on the other hand thinks its hot when she eats anything I make with this. Although my youngest thinks anything seasoned with black pepper is spicy so I hope that helps with giving an idea there is a slight bite but not overly spicy.

Note when I cook I am used to cooking for five now that it is just the three of us in the house since the husband and I have divorced and the oldest teenager has moved out I still have not cut down my sizes. This will end up making for the three of us, three meals. I bag the remaining and place it into the freezer. Typically, if I work on the recipe in the evening the next day it is ready to cook, so a full 24 hours. If on the weekends I am working on it in the morning I will cook it that evening and it has tasted fine but my theory is why create a recipe and cheat my taste buds out of a culinary experience? I have seen some people say 30 minutes to allow the marinate to soak, yes I like to look and see what others do differently than what I cook, and I cringe. So rule of thumb, allow at least 2 or more hours for it to marinade otherwise you are robbing yourself from the deliciousness of this recipe.


Ingredients:

4-5 lbs of pork belly or pork shoulder thinly sliced.


For the marinade:

1 1/2 c of Asian pear  (if Asian is not available substitute Boscov pear about 3-4 medium sized)
3/4 c of onion (medium sized)
8 cloves of minced garlic
1 tsp of minced ginger
1 bunch of chopped  green onion (approximately 6-8 individual pieces)
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1/4 c of honey
2 Tbsp of toasted sesame oil
1/4 c of brown sugar
1/4 c of  gochujang  (hot pepper paste)

Directions:

  1. First I thinly slice all the meat and remove excess fat. Pork belly has a layer of fat that I also cut off from it. My mother gets on me over this and I can not eat a big piece of fat. If you opt to that is up to you and it is the way it is suppose to be done, I just can't.
  2. Next I peel the pears and quarter them removing the seeds and place them into the food processor. 
  3. I then move on to the onion, removing the ends and the peel and quarter that as well and into the food processor.
  4. Garlic we peel and place into the food processor. 
  5. Add 1tsp of minced ginger to food processor. If you are using ginger root then peel, cut off a small piece and mince, then place into the food processor.
  6. Add soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, brown sugar, gochujang into the food processor
  7. Mix all ingredients until a paste (pictured to the right)
  8. Now pour your sauce onto your meat and mix into well ensuring all the meat is covered. I use cooking gloves during this process because hot paste sauce tends to stain your finger nails.
  9. Slice off the ends of the green onions and chop them into small pieces add them into the meat marinade mixture and mix in.
  10. Allow your meat to marinade for at least 2 hours if not more. 
  11. Now it is time to cook. On the stove set the temperature to medium high. Cook approximately 12-14 minutes (6-7 mins per each side). If you have a butcher slicing your meat for you will need to adjust your cook time since they can often get the meat to cut thinner.  
Ready to for everyone to enjoy
I like mine as a wrap
My kids like theirs with rice
     

1 comment:

  1. Yum! Delicious and so easy to serve in different ways. Love that :)

    ReplyDelete