Bulgogi Recipe (Korean BBQ)
Bulgogi literally means "fire beef", because it is usually cooked over a fire on a tabletop grill.
6 servings
2 1/2 lbs. thinly sliced rib eye steak (if slicing at home, partially freeze meat before slicing to enable you to slice it as thin as possible)
sugar
1/2 cup julienned white onion
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 bunch green onions, trimmed and cut in 3-inch pieces
1/2 cup oyster mushrooms, torn into strips (or use wild mushrooms, such as matsutake or chanterelles, or domestic button mushrooms). *
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 cup water
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup peeled, cored and pureed raw Asian pear (a Kiwi works well if you don't have pear)
2 1/2 teaspoons Asian style sesame oil
Korean or Japanese cooking rice wine
*I've had great bulgogi with more than one kind of mushroom, so feel free to experiment!
1. After thinly slicing the meat-tenderize with the flat side of knife and place in bowl. Sprinkle some sugar over the meat and mix with hands or chopsticks. Let sit for about 20 minutes while you prepare marinade.
2. Make marinade:
a. Put white onion and pear or kiwi into blender or food processor until liquidy and pour into small bowl.
b. Mix soy sauce, sugar (about 5-6 tbsp), black pepper, sesame oil, rice wine (about 3 tbsp)
c. Chop garlic into small pieces (or use garlic press), and add to sugar/meat mixture.
3. Pour both sauces into the garlic/meat mixture and mix well with *carrots, mushrooms, and green onion using hands or chopsticks, until marinade is evenly distributed throughout the meat. Refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight.
(*If you like your veggies a bit crunchier, add them right before grilling)
4. Heat a tabletop grill. Pour a little water onto the hot surface, then slowly grill the mixture plus and allow it to simmer until thoroughly cooked. If you don't have a tabletop grill, a deep frying pan will do just fine :)
Serve alone in bowl, spooning broth from grill onto separate bowl of rice, or serve on the rice itself.
For a little twist-add some cooked Korean sweet potato vermicelli (dangmyun) to cooked bulgogi and allow to simmer for 3-5 minutes together before serving in bowl together or over rice.
You can also serve with lettuce-wrapping meat up in leaf with a bit of rice and some Korean bean paste (if available).
Enjoy!!!
