The Cooking Ninja

Gochujang Bulgoki is Korean Spicy Pork or in Korean, Spicy Bulgoki.

This very simple yet very delicious and flavourful plat was introduced to me by my Korean friend, Jung Sol-yi whom I met in 2002 at SUEFLE, Nantes University. I remember back then, how we often had to use gestures and pictures to express ourselves when our limited French and dictionary failed us. Or how all of us (Yumi, Zhang Ying and I) squeezed into Sol-yi's tiny one-bedroom student apartment for lunch. How she cooked for us our 1st Korean meal just outside her bedroom door at the corridor using a portable stove she borrowed from her next door neighbour. How each of us took turns to introduce our country food - Yumi cooked Japanese while Ying cooked Szechuan food and I cooked Chicken curry and stir-fried noodles. It was the most beautiful 2 semesters we had together and when our long lasting friendship was formed. Whenever I made this dish, it always brings back those sweet memories of my friends whom I miss so much.

Gochujang Bulgoki

Ingredients

• 1 kg pork - cut into thin slices
• 1 carrots (medium size) - cut into thin strips like match sticks
• 1 white onion (big) - sliced
• 4 to 5 garlic - minced
• 2 to 3 tbsp Korean soya sauce
• 4 tbsp Gochujang (Korean chilli paste) - less if you are not used to spiciness
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1½ tsp sugar

Sol-yi's Special Sauce (Optional)

• ½ tsp fermented soya bean paste
• 1 to 2 tbsp Gochujang

Mix both together till well blended.

Directions

1. In a big bowl, put all the above ingredients together and mix it well.
2. Let it marinate in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours. If you don't have time the next day, you can prepare this the night before, it tastes even better.
3. Stir-fry the marinated pork mixture in a non-stick pan without any oil until the meat is cooked. Add a little bit of hot water to the mixture if needed.
4. Taste to see if it is spicy enough for you. If not, add a bit more of Gochujang.

How to eat it Korean style?

1. First, put a piece of lettuce on your palm.
2. Put a tablespoon of round/Japanese rice on the lettuce, then top it with the Spicy Pork. For an extra kick, you can put a bit of the special sauce on top of the rice before putting the spicy pork.
3. Bundle up the lettuce and enjoy. It's quite a mouthful.

The Verdict

mmm... it tasted still as good like the time I made it together with Sol-yi. Pierre likes it too. His only critic is that I made it a bit too spicy for him. Hehehe... I was happily adding spoonful after spoonful of Gochujang to the pork mixture before I remembered that Pierre can't take as spicy as me. Oops! Too late. Well, the poor guy still happily finished his spicy Bulgoki and even had a second helping.

This dish can be eaten with plain ordinary steam rice or with round/Japanese rice. Pierre prefers his with plain Basmati rice while I prefer to eat mine the Korean way.

Note

Gochujan (Korean chilli paste) is quite spicy so remember to go easy with it when adding it to your marinated mixture. It is better to put less in the marinate if you aren't sure how spicy it would be when cooked. You can always add more in during cooking stage if it is not spicy enough for you.

And also it might be better to test taste it (dab your finger on the marinated mixture) to check if it is salty enough before adding a 3^rd spoonful of soya sauce, as it will make it taste saltier.

Regarding Korean soya sauce, for those who don't have it, you can replace it with Chinese light soya sauce. In this case, you have to add less because Chinese soya sauce tends to be saltier. I have made this dish before using Chinese light soya sauce and it still tastes as good.