Korean Beef and Rice (Bulgogi)
Bulgogi is a popular Korean rice dish that features the famous barbecue-style beef that Korean food is known for. The finished dish is a savory and somewhat spicy mix of rice and beef topped with optional scallions and sesame seeds. The dish is a mainstay on many Korean restaurant menus all over the world.
This is an amazingly simple and easy recipe for the beginner or seasoned chef to try cooking. The meat is sliced thin and will cook very quickly which makes the dish cook fast! The only real-time taker is the marinating process which can take hours if you want to get the full effect of super saturated and tender beef.
Tips Before you Start
- Make the beef slices as thin as you possibly can!
- Make some white rice and set aside, it will be placed under the beef at the end.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pound rib-eye steak (boneless)
- ½ of a small pear coarsely cut or grated and peeled
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 3 minced garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon gochujang
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
- 2 green onions sliced thin
Cooking Directions
- Place the steak in plastic wrapping and put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes are up, remove from the freezer and slice the steak into thin slices.
- Make the marinade- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix the pear, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, and gochujang. Now, in a big gallon-sized resealable bag combine the marinade and the meat. Let the beef marinate for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight if you want that extra tender and flavorful beef!
- For this part, you will need a cast-iron skillet (or grilling pan). Heat up 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil over medium–high. Add the meat to the pan in a single layer, flip the steak once until charred and thoroughly cooked about 2 or 3 minutes on each side. Make more layers and repeat the process adding another tablespoon of oil until all the steak is cooked.
- Place on top of white rice and garnish with sesame seeds and eat it right away while it is still hot!
Gyeran Bokkeumbap (Korean Egg Fried Rice)
Egg fried rice is a classic egg and rice dish that is popular in almost all Asian cultures, but it is especially popular in Korea. This dish is very satisfying and will fill you up. The protein from the eggs and the carbohydrates and starchiness of the steamed rice will keep you feeling full for hours.
This is a simple dish but do not let that fool you! If executed correctly this simple dish can be one of the tastiest Korean meals you ever cook. Egg fried rice can be customized to your taste (much like ramen) there are a million ways to change this dish to make it your own. You can place almost anything on top of this meal, and it seems to only get better!
Tip Before You Start
The secret to making this dish amazing is the scallions that add the flavoring to the oil that is used to fry the rice and cook the eggs. Pay special attention to the oil!
Ingredients
- 3 or 4 scallions or only one large Korean scallion. Just make sure you have enough to make about 1 full cup of chopped scallions.
- 3 large-sized eggs
- 3 cups of cooked rice
- 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
- Oil for cooking (vegetable or canola oil, it is up to your taste)
- ½ tablespoon sesame seeds
- ½ tablespoon sesame oil
- Salt and pepper
Cooking Instructions
- Chop the scallions into small, fine pieces
- In a small bowl, beat the eggs into a mixture
- Over medium-high heat in a medium skillet, heat up 2 tablespoons oil. Add just over half of the scallions and stir fry until the onions become soft and start to smell good.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and put the eggs in the pan with the scallions. Stir the eggs and scallions until the eggs are starting to set but are still a little runny. Take the contents of the pan and put on a plate and set aside.
- In the same pan increase the heat up to medium-high. Put in 2 tablespoons of oil and place the remaining scallions in the pan. Stir and mix. Once the scallions are soft add in one tablespoon of soy sauce.
- Add in the cooked rice stirring and making sure any clumpy parts are broken up. Keep stirring until the rice is nice and toasted.
- Add the eggs back to the pan and stir up the eggs with the toasted rice. At this point, you can add pepper and salt to your taste. Add sesame oil and the sesame seeds on top.
That is all there is to it. As we said before the key is the oil being seasoned perfectly with the scallions. This is a simple classic dish that will keep you nice and full for the entire day. Egg fried rice is the perfect meal for breakfast, lunch or as a main course for dinner. It is also popular as a side dish to any Korean barbecue.
Seafood Kimchi Fried Rice Haemul-Kimchi-Bokkeumbap
This dish is a little harder to cook due to the multiple ingredients, and the fact that it contains seafood. If you are not experienced in cooking seafood, it can be a little intimidating. It is not that difficult if you just take extra care to make sure the seafood is not over or undercooked.
This dish is especially tasty if you are a fan of seafood. It contains a variety of flavors and proteins. Kimchi is in there along with scallops, mussels, and shrimp. 3 different proteins as well as kimchi is not too easy of a task! Luckily, we have some easy to follow instructions!
Ingredients
- 6 big sea scallops drained and fully rinsed
- 5 small clams
- 6 large shrimp, deveined, rinsed, shelled, and patted dry
- 12 mussels (fully cleaned)
- A pinch of black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup fermented kimchi chopped
- 1 tablespoon potato starch
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ¼ cup water or kimchi brine
- ¼ cup chopped onion
- 2 minced garlic cloves
- 2 ½ cups white rice
- 3 tablespoons Korean hot pepper paste
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
Cooking Instructions
- In a bowl, put in shrimp and scallops. Add salt and pepper and mix very well by hand
- Add in the potato starch and mix with the shrimp and scallops. Set the bowl aside.
Making the Garlic Mix
- In a thick pan on medium-high heat, add the vegetable oil. Add in the onion, green onion, and garlic and stir with a spoon for 2 or 3 minutes until the mix is a bit crispy and starts to turn light brown.
- With a slotted spoon, place the mixture into a 12-inch skillet, making sure to leave about a tablespoon of the oil in the pan.
Cooking the Proteins
- Heat the pan on medium-high and add the scallops and shrimp one at a time and cook for about 1 or 2 minutes until the bottoms start to turn a light brown. Flip them and cook the other side for another 2 or 3 minutes until all sides are cooked and look opaque.
- Move them to a big plate
- In the same pan over medium-high, add in the clams and mussels with ¼ cup of water. Cover with a lid and cook for 3 or 4 minutes until they are totally cooked and opened. Remove the pan from heat.
- Place the mussels and clams on the platter next to the scallops and shrimp.
- Split the shells of the mussels and clams by hand, leaving the half-shell with the meat inside on the platter and removing the empty half-shells.
- At this point, all the seafood is ready on the plate.
Making the kimchi fried rice
- Heat the same skillet with the garlic mixture over medium-high. Add the kimchi and stir for about one minute until it is wilted.
- Stir in the water or brine, rice, hot pepper paste, and 1 teaspoon soy sauce.
- Stir together until the whole mix is nice and incorporated for about 2 or 3 minutes
Adding the Seafood Proteins
- Reduce the heat to medium and place the cooked seafood on top of the rice. Try to fold the seafood into the rice so it’s covered with rice. Place a lid on the pan and cook for 1 or 2 minutes until the bottom gets a bit crunchy. When the rice starts to pop you know it’s ready.
- Remove from heat and spread the sesame oil on top and sprinkle the sesame seeds on.
- Serve right away
Korean Ground Beef and Rice Bowl
This simple dish is probably the easiest one on this list. I am sure after the seafood kimchi recipe you are ready for something that is simpler right? This dish is like the first one on the list. However, in this dish you are using much cheaper meat, ground beef instead of steak. This dish also does not require marinating, so it makes it a much faster and simpler recipe.
This recipe should not take long and does not contain too many ingredients.
Tip Before You Start
Be sure to cook the beef all the way as undercooked beef can contain bacteria that can make you sick.
Cooking Instructions
- Combine ground beef sauce in a medium bowl and stir very well. If using bibimbap sauce, place all the sauce in a different bowl and set aside.
- In a hot skillet, cook the ground beef over medium-high until brown, about 3 or 4 minutes. Stir occasionally breaking up any large lumps of meat.
- Add the sauce over the meat and let it simmer for 2 or 3 minutes, stirring here and there. Add in the sesame seeds and onions and give it a quick stir. Remove from heat.
- Serve over a bed of precooked rice, top with your choice of sides, and add bibimbap sauce.
Tteokbokki (Spicy Korean Rice Cakes)
This is a well-known dish and has a garlicky spicy flavor to it. It is essentially rice cakes with spicy chile paste on them. This dish is so popular it even has its own festival named after it!
Since it is such a unique and tasty dish, we saved it for last!
Ingredients
- Sesame seeds
- 2 scallions cut into 1-inch pieces
- 8 ounces fresh tteok
- 1 or 2 teaspoons sugar
- 4 ounces beefsteak (sirloin or chuck, thin sliced)
- 1 to 2 tablespoons Korean chili paste
- ½ teaspoon soy sauce
- 2 cups cabbage cut into big pieces
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 2 cloves minced garlic
Cooking Instructions
- Soak the tteok in some cold or cool water while you prepare the other ingredients for about 10 minutes. Drain on a clean cloth or paper towels
- Combine the beef with 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, garlic, and soy sauce
- Heat up a skillet over high until hot. Add the beef mix and fry while stirring until slightly brown for about one minute. Add the scallions, onion, and cabbage to the mix. Stir fry the whole mix until the cabbage is tender.
- Add the spicy Korean pepper paste and mix with the rest. Add 1/3 water, sesame oil, tteok, and sugar. Mix the ingredients and leave to simmer until the sauce has thickened and the tteok is soft, adding small amounts of water as needed. You can adjust the spices as need at this point (sugar and spicy pepper paste),
- Add scallions and sesame seeds and mix. Serve hot.
