I’m off to short trip with my mama and I’m excited to have another favourite blogger to showcase a delicious Korean dish! She’s Gomo of cHowDivine – a lawyer by day and talented cook at home. Her blog features healthy food, especially Korean food. I stumbled upon Gomo’s blog a few months back and I couldn’t stop browsing her blog, going from one delicious post to another.. Japchae (Noodle Dish), Ddukbokki (Spicy Rice Cakes), Pajeon (Scallion Pancake), and many more. It then hit me – Korean food is actually very healthy.. it’s now my new love, gotta learnt up more korean words for my soon-to-be frequent visits to Korean restaurants. As we are both on gluten free lifestyle, I feel connected to Gomo. Remember my recent post on Banana Bread with Dark Chocolate Chunks and Walnut, that’s Gomo’s creation.
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Hi everyone. I’m Gomo from chowdivine.com. Let me start off by thanking Shannon for asking me to write a guest post. It’s my first time. I’m honored to do so.
When Shannon asked me to do the guest post, she had two requests. She asked that the recipe be simple and that it be something Korean. It makes perfect sense since I run a blog dedicated to healthy food, particularly Korean food. It would be silly for me to do the post about anything else!
So as my first ever guest post, let me write about one of the most popular and, in my opinion, most delicious Korean dishes: bulgogi. Bulgogi is a sliced beef dish that is marinated and commonly cooked over fire, hence the name bul (“fire”) gogi (“meat”). But it can also be sautéed in a pan for a softer and juicier version of the dish. Either way, it’s delicious.
Per Shannon’s request, I will make this a very simple recipe. You can add puréed Korean pears, onions, Sprite, and more. But seriously? This simple recipe is just as delicious. It will take you minutes to prepare the meat. The longest part of the preparation is waiting for the meat to marinate in the refrigerator. You can enjoy a glass of wine, entertain friends, watch your favorite TV show, or surf the net while the meat is getting delicious in the fridge. You can handle that right?
What I love about bulgogi – besides the taste – is its versatility. You can eat it by itself with rice. You can put it on top of bread for a delicious sandwich. You can make a rice bowl with some sautéed veggies. You can wrap it in a leaf of Romaine lettuce for a fantastic and healthy wrap. Or just use your imagination. No matter what you choose to do, bulgogi will make any dish delicious. Give it a try.
- 1-1 1/4 pound tenderloin or rib eye, very thinly sliced*
- ¼ cups tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)
- 1 TB sesame oil
- 3 large cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 TB agave or honey
- 1 TB granulated sugar
- 1 TB mirin
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- canola oil for cooking
- * The beef should be sliced VERY thinly. It’s much easier to do so when the meat is partially frozen.
- Stir together tamari, sesame oil, minced garlic, agave (or honey), sugar, mirin, and pepper. Mix well until the sugar is well dissolved.
- Place thinly-sliced beef into a large mixing bowl or a large Ziploc bag for easy cleanup. Add prepared marinade from step 1, to the beef. Mix well. You can use your hands to massage the meat to ensure that the marinade is absorbed by the meat.
- Cover tightly. Marinate 30 minutes – 1 hour in the refrigerator.
- Heat a grill pan or a skillet on medium-high heat. Add canola oil to coat the pan/skillet. Remove the beef from the marinade and grill until nicely browned. Don’t overcrowd the pan/skillet. Overcrowding will result in lowering of the temperature of the cooking surface; this will result in boiling or steaming of the meat. On moderately high heat, the meat should brown very quickly – within minutes.
- Garnish with chopped scallions and/or toasted sesame seeds if desired. Serve hot with steamed rice.
Cook’s Note:
* If you want to use chicken in place of beef, you can use the same marinade, although I recommend adding about ½ tsp of grated ginger. I recommend using boneless skinless chicken thighs for the recipe. Make sure to cut it thin enough that the meat will cook through easily. You can also choose to pound the meat thin (1/2” or thinner). Sugars (that includes agave and honey) burn very quickly in heat. So you want to make sure you can cook it in a few minutes. And you don’t want to mess with undercooked chicken.
* Don’t be afraid to adjust the heat. You will start with moderately high heat; but if you see that sugars are burning too quickly, don’t be afraid to LOWER the heat. This is the reason why when you go to a Korean barbecue restaurant, the servers come by your table to adjust the heat once in a while and/or to change out the grill.
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Oh I’m drooling, looking at those bulgogi! Can’t wait to try it. and check out Gomo’s post of Bulgogi and Spicy Slaw Sandwich, it’s to die for!
Comments
21 responses to “GuestPost: Bulgogi”
Shannon, I have to agree with you that Korean food is very delicious and healthy (excluding yummy pork belly hehe but my MIL says that is the healthiest part of the piggy LOL) Anyhow..have fun with your mom!
Gomo, great guest post! Bulgogi looks very tempting and i wish to have it right now even on my full stomach:) Awesome recipe and mouthwatering pics!
Thanks Sandra! It’s funny; my grandpa used to say that pork fat wasn’t that bad for you! 🙂 He used to frown at me when I would take the fat off as a little girl! Can’t tell now, but I was a very finicky eater growing up 😛
Thanks Sandra, it was a great trip and had a lot of fun.
seems all the elderly thinks the same about pork fat, my grandparents love pork knuckles and says the fat is nutritious! seems they know best 😀
Gomo its nice to see u here on Shannons space. Bulgogi is new to me! I always learn new exciting things from you. I am surely going to make this oncce I have all ingredients together. Just have to figuere out where to get mirin.
Shannon have fun with your mum! =D
Thank you Helene! I hope you get a chance to try it. If you can’t find mirin, you can replace it with sake – assuming you can find sake. If you can’t find either, add a little bit of lemon/lime soda or ginger ale.
Just earlier I was looking for something instead of sake or mirin and apparently some sherry would do the deal or some type of Chinese alcohol. I don’t get any of that here. I ll try it with lime as you mentioned Gomo. Some people were even suggesting to us vinegar, but isn’t that too sour?
hmm.. how about using rice wine and sweetened it? from what i read about mirin, it’s almost like sake except sweeter 😀
Don’t use vinegar, lemon or lime. It will not give the intended taste. Lemon juice is ok for chicken bulgogi, but not beef. If you can’t find mirin, sake, soju, or PALE dry sherry, I would think vodka is an acceptable substitute.
However, if you can’t get your hands on any, you can just skip it. You can add a little bit of lemon/lime soda (like 7-up or sprite, not the actual juice) or ginger ale also.
Hope this helps Helene!
Thank you for having me on your site Shannon! It was an amazing experience.
Thank you Gomo! It was definitely an “unforgettable” experience 😀
I love Korean food too, and Bulgogi is one of my favs. This looks utterly delicious.
Thanks Baby Sumo, this looks so yummy isn’t it?
Gomo – so very nice to meet you! Thank you for sharing bulgogi with us. I’ve had it at a couple of Korean restaurants and loved grilling it at the table, then eating it right off the grill. It was delicious. This recipe looks super delicious! I can’t wait to make it and I will be making it!
It’s so nice to meet you too MJ! It’s really an easy recipe. I hope you get a chance to try it!
MJ, I can’t wait to try this recipe too! do update us if you have tried it
Have a lovely time with mum, Shannon!
Hello, Gomo. Nice to meet you. I love beef and Korean food. This I always order whenever we go to a Korean restaurant to eat. It costs quite a bit but oh so worth it! Now that I know it’s so simple to make this, I can have this more often. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Ping. It’s nice to meet you too! As much as I like bulgogi at restaurants, I prefer making it at home. You can adjust the seasoning according to your preference. But more importantly, you don’t end up smelling like a barbecue pit at the end of the night! 🙂
Thanks Ping, it was a relaxing trip, did’t want to get back to the hustle & bustle of the big city. So true, bulgogi at korean restaurants are quite pricey and we always end of smelling of bbq, especially the hair! it’s so easy to make at home, thanks to Gomo for sharing
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I love Korean food and this bulgogi is making me very, very hungry!
me too! I’m hungry looking at the bulgogi photos!