Bulgogi is one of the most popular Korean dishes to foreigners. It is not spicy but sweet and tender. You can learn more about Bulgogi from Wikipedia

I don’t like buying instant sauce for cooking in general. It doesn’t feel very natural to me. But I wanted to compare how it would taste different to natural sauce and share the information with you. I used “Baekseol” brand (which means snow white by the way), this seems to be the most popular marinating sauce for bulgogi amongst cooking ladies in Korea.

Ingredients for 2 people

-For meat

• Beef 330g (The meat looks chunky but you can separate it easily with your hands and it is very thin sliced. I used Australian beef because it is cheaper than Korean beef. It was about 7000 won, US $ 7.40) – If you are in Korea, just say bulgogi, then they will know what to give to you.

-Marinating Sauce-

• Pepper 2 sprinkles
• Ginger powder 3 sprinkles
• Refined rice wine – 1 tbsp
• Marinating instant sauce – 5 tbsp

-For vegetables

• 1 onion
• 1/4 a carrot
• 1 pack of enoki mushrooms (It is optional)
• 4 medium stalks of spring onion

Preparation

1. Rinse the beef in cold water a couple of times. Separate the meat and put it in a big bowl.
2. Add the marinating sauce ingredients. Mix it.
3. Cut the onion and carrot into thin slices.
4. Cut the spring onion into pieces.
5. Add the cut vegetables into the meat bowl.
6. Marinate it for at least for 1 hour.

Cooking

1. Pre heat the wok.

2. Add some olive oil and the mix of meat and vegetables.

3. Stir it until it cooks.

4. If the meat is too big, cut the pieces with scissors.

5. Add the enoki mushrooms 1 minute before you serve the dish.

6. Serve it on the plate.

It was a sweet dish in general. It tasted much better than I expected. I am going to make bulgogi with my own sauce some other time, so check for that recipe too.

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Boiled Beef and Quail’s Eggs in Soy sauce (Sogogi Jangjorim in Korean)

“Jeyuk-bokkeum” is the Korean name for this meal. It’s marinated with Gochujang sauce so it may be spicy for you (just a warning). If you don’t have much time in terms of preparation (including marinating the meat), you don’t absolutely have to follow this recipe. I just can not guarantee the best result. That’s all.

Ingredients for this meals are (for 2 people)

For Marinating Pork

-Getting rid of smells

• Pork 360g -You can use Neck bone meat (“Mok sal” in Korean) or Bacon slices from the Belly (“Samgyeopsal” in Korean)
• Refined rice wine 15 ml
• Pepper 2 Sprinkles

1. Soak the Pork in cold water for about 20-30 minutes to get rid of the blood.
2. Cut the meat into about mouthful size pieces.
3. Put the meat in a big bowl and add refined rice wine and pepper. (mix and leave it for about 30 minutes)

-Making Gochujang sauce

• Gochujang 2 tbsp
• Soy sauce 1 tbsp
• Sugar 2 tsp
• Chili powder 1 sprinkle
• Ginger powder 1/2 tsp
• Finely chopped garlic (one medium size)
• Plum Extract 15 ml -This is good for getting rid of oily tastes of the meat. You can buy it at the local super market. However it is very expensive, so you don’t have to use it, though it makes a very big difference in the meal I noticed.

1. Get a bowl ready. Pour in all the ingredients I mentioned above.
2. Mix them well. Then add this on to the meat.

For side vegetables

• 1/5 of a medium cabbage (If you use too much of this, it will make too much water in the wok.)
• 5 Sesame leaves
• 1/2 a medium onion
• 1/2 a medium carrot
• 1 stalk of big spring onion

-Preparation

1. Thin slice the cabbage, onion, and carrot.
2. Slice the sesame leaves and spring onion.
3. Put all these vegetables into the meat bowl (with the meat).
4. Mix them throughly.

For wraps

• Ssamjang
• 1/5 of a medium size cabbage (I ‘m very fond of cabbage wraps. It’s soft and apparently helps digestion.)
• 5 Sesame leaves
• 10 Lettuce leaves

-Preparation

1. Carefully wash the leaves. Since they are fragile and hard to scrub, I recommend to use organic leaves.
2. Steam the 1/5 cabbage (unseparated) for about 10 minutes.

-Cooking-

1. Pre-heat the wok for about 20 seconds.
2. Put some olive oil in the wok.
3. Add the veggies and meat mix.
4. Stir them and cook it thoroughly.
5. Serve it on the plate.

-Eating-

1. To eat it, hold a lettuce, sesame, or steamed cabbage leaf on your hand.
2. Put a mouthful of the meat and veggies on top.
3. Add some Ssamjang.
4. Wrap the leaf around it and then eat it.

Related Posts

Pork and Kimchi Stew (Dwaejigogi Kimchijjigae in Korean)
Spicy Chicken & Vegetable Stew (Dak doritang in Korean?)