Friday, November 26, 2010

Korean BBQ pork(Daeji Bulgogi) for Thanksgiving dinner


Happy belated Thanksgiving! I was invited to a friend's home for Thanksgiving dinner and thinking hard what food to bring. since I didn't grow up eating turkey or pumpkin pie, I don't really know how to cook a traditional Thanksgiving meal. I finally decided to bring something exotic-Korean bbq pork. The first time I had it was in a Korean restaurant in the Canadian border city Niagara Fall. It was served in a sizzling cast iron plate like the kind for fajita. Once I tried it, I decided to learn how to make it by myself!

We had five ladies,one man, and 2-year-old baby all together. All ladies are army wives, but their husbands are all being deployed in Agfganistan except mine who is going to next year. Since I became friends with them, I've appreciated these girls who gave up exciting urban life to live in this rural town. Since there aren't many job oppertunities here, even those with college degree have a hard time getting a job, but they still keep themselves optimistic, happy, and active. When the husbands are gone, wives keep each other company to share their happiness and sadness, they work out regularly to maintain a healthy life, hoping to drop a size or two before the hubbies are back. Good thing is there's only three weeks left for the one year deployment! 


Daeji Bulgogi is another popular Korean meat dish similar to bulgogi. However, instead of using beef, thin sliced pork loin is marinated in a specially blended red chili pepper paste with various assortments of vegetables.Spicy and sweet, belive me, it tastes better than it looks! It was also one of the favorite dishes at our Thanksgiving dinner.


Korean BBQ pork/Daeji Bulgogi Recipe

Ingredients 
1 lb thinly sliced pork (lean & boneless preferred)
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp crushed garlic
½ tbsp crushed ginger root
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp kochujang (Korean red chili pepper paste, available in Asian store)
2 tbsp rice wine (sake)
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 onion, sliced
2tbsp cooking oil

Steps:
1. Combine all the ingredients except pork and cooking oil to make its base marinating sauce.
2. Stir in a large mixing bowl.
3. Add the pork and marinate for 30-60 minutes.
4. Turn the stove to high and add cooking oil in a deep pan or wok.
5. When it's smoky, add marinated pork to stir-fry until onion turns translucent and soft enough.
6. Sprinkle toasted seasame seeds and green onion for garnish. Serve with steamed rice.

    9 comments:

    Debs @ Acquiredish said...

    This sounds delicious, I've got to try it very soon. Thanks for sharing.

    BTW great you ladies all keep each other company!

    Debs @ Acquiredish said...

    Oh I forgot to mention I am now following you too. Would love to have you follow back (no pressure)

    Katie Yoon said...

    I love spicy pork!! This is one of my favorite, too. By the way, your photos are beautiful!

    Yue Jiang said...

    Hi Debs, thank you!
    Katie, it's becoming one of my favorite too!

    Barbecue said...

    Very efficiently written information. It will be valuable to anybody who usess it, including me. Keep doing what you are doing – for sure i will check out more posts.

    Jeff said...

    Just made this for lunch and I will definitely be placing this in our menu rotation. I will say it did not seem to be very spicy. So, next time I will try to increase the kochujang to 1/4 cup. But it does have a very good overall flavor. My 10 year old really liked it, so that is a very good endorsement. Thanks for posting this recipe.

    Yue Jiang said...

    Jeff, thank you for stepping in my blog! good to hear your kid liked it. As you mentioned, this dish isn't too spicy. The Korean chili paste is very mild and kind of sweet. But recipes are just guidelines, feel free to adapt it to your own preferance. btw, i love spicy food too!

    KennQ29 said...

    great post, I really like it. Thanks for posting. :)

    Anonymous said...

    Hello,

    Are you usining Lean pork fillet?