RECIPE: BULGOGI
Thursday, November 22, 2012
I guess the title gives it all away, but in today's post, I will teach you all how to make what was ranked 23rd on the World's Most Delicious Foods poll in 2011 -
. . .
Bibimbap in the background, bulgogi in the front left.
Maybe the first thing you think about when you hear this dish is the sweet and savoury flavour, or the container of marinade you can buy in the supermarkets to whip up some bulgogi yourself!
Instead of consuming the all of the MSG (I included a link to its Wiki, because I thought you might be interested in what it really is - because I was, and Google'd about it just now) that's in those pre-made marinades, why not make your own marinade? It has many ingredients, but the outcome is definitely worth it.
What you'll need to make home-made bulgogi
~ Ingredients ~
Half an apple, minced or pureed
1 cup sprite
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 onion, minced
1 stalk green onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 spoon gochujang -or- 1/2 spoon red pepper flake
1 spoon sesame oil
1/2 spoon black pepper
1 spoon brown sugar
1 pound rib-eye or sirloin steak, thinly sliced
Throw everything into a magic bullet/ food processor if you can - to avoid the tears from cutting onions
There's really no trick to making this, except maybe tasting the marinade after you mix everything and adjusting the taste. When we made it, we added more sprite because we wanted it more sweet than salty.
And a side note, the "spoon" measurement is around a tablespoon (I just used an ordinary drinking soup spoon).
Apples and sprite give it a nice sweet flavour that even sugar can't provide!
We didn't have a food processor, but if you have access to one, purée the onions, garlic and apple together instead of mincing it. Then just mix the rest of the ingredients together.
My hands smelled of onions and/or garlic for the rest of that night, and the rest of the next day. So every time I hands went near my face, I smelled the aroma of onions and garlic - which seems to adhere to my hands far too well.
My problem?
I'll need to avoid mincing onions and garlic as much as possible.
The conflict?
I love to add onions and garlic to food I make!
The solution?
Wear gloves...or use that grating thing for garlics and use it for onions too :)
Voilà!
Be sure to taste test it at this point, otherwise it wouldn't be so wise to taste it after you add in your raw beef. If you find it too:
Salty: Add more sprite/sugar/apple
Sweet: Add more soy sauce
Flavourful: Add more onion and green onion
If there is another flavour-fixing problem that needs to be troubleshooted, I'm sure google can be of a great help to you :)
Smells so good even before cooking~
Cover it with plastic wrap and let it marinate in the fridge for at least half an hour.
In the mean time, let's continue this Korean dinner with some Bibimbap!
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I feel like a chef with the chef's knife.
You can really add whatever vegetables/meat you like - just cut it thinly, boil it, and drain out the water well. This time, I chose zucchini, carrot, bean sprout, and spinach.
The garlic is for seasoning the bean sprout, to which I also added some sesame oil.
Mixing motion ~~ woosh woosh
I mixed in sesame oil into the rice to make it more fragrant - before putting all the veggies on top.
Oh, yes the bulgogi -
You can either grill it, or pan fry it with some oil like I did.
Bulgogi alongside tofu
We added another onion (sliced thickly) mid-way through cooking the bulgogi, because we like onions :)
Do you like to eat onions?
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Here is the Bibimbap with veggies (and kimchi) and egg
Pan fry your eggs sunny side up, then place it on your rice and veggies.
Sunny side up = the yolk is not cooked = it will be runny when you poke it.
Why should we not cook the egg yolk?
Why, because that's the best thing to mix with rice :)
Tofu with a good dose of my yummy sauce
We had deep fried tofu (from the Chinese BBQ place), and pan fried tofu as well.
~ My yummy sauce ~
The yummy sauce I make is SUPER VERSATILE. You can add it to whatever you eat to make it taste yummy.
Works well on plain rice, fried rice, meats (as well as innards) of all sorts, and steamed/stir-fried/boiled vegetables too!
Just a mixture soy sauce, brown sugar, onions/green onions, and water - are all you need to make even the blandest of foods taste delicious!!
So now, you can have some of this yummy sauce that I always use to top food when I don't know what to put on it :)
Grab a spoon!
Are you hungry now? Because I am.
The lovely European friend and I began our healthy-er eating habits the beginning of this week, and alongside the (almost) everyday going to the gym, I feel that my metabolism has gone up!
Eating smaller meals more frequently is really starting to make a difference - and I'm glad I'm finally starting to eat like this (I used to eat three large meals and a snack/small meal each day. But of course, on some days I'll have to give in and eat more (I've saved my weekends as feasting days), otherwise I'll just be so deprived that I go insane.
Which brings me to my caffeine addiction. I got off it after summer ended, but I'm rather afraid that it might be creeping up on me again.
I had Starbucks twice in a day a couple of weeks ago, and coffees and milk teas often between then and right now. So when I don't have it for a day or so, my head throbs and I get super sleepy :(
Hopefully drinking steeped tea will help fend off the want to drink coffee...
*slams head on desk repeatedly*
Are you hungry now? Because I am.
The lovely European friend and I began our healthy-er eating habits the beginning of this week, and alongside the (almost) everyday going to the gym, I feel that my metabolism has gone up!
Eating smaller meals more frequently is really starting to make a difference - and I'm glad I'm finally starting to eat like this (I used to eat three large meals and a snack/small meal each day. But of course, on some days I'll have to give in and eat more (I've saved my weekends as feasting days), otherwise I'll just be so deprived that I go insane.
I think this was gingerbread...or caramel brule.
Which brings me to my caffeine addiction. I got off it after summer ended, but I'm rather afraid that it might be creeping up on me again.
I had Starbucks twice in a day a couple of weeks ago, and coffees and milk teas often between then and right now. So when I don't have it for a day or so, my head throbs and I get super sleepy :(
Hopefully drinking steeped tea will help fend off the want to drink coffee...
*slams head on desk repeatedly*
X
MUAH MUAH MUAH
VICKI CHOW
P/S
I didn't end up baking anything with bananas! I (and the lovely European friend) ate them all - at an amazing rate too.
Actually, I didn't end up baking anything at all since the last blog post. *my bad*
But there is something else I'd like to share with you today.
I feel like I'm experiencing memory loss. Today, I
1. Forgot to defrost the chicken breasts,
2. Lost my scarf,
3. Forgot what I forgot in the morning.
Actually, I didn't end up baking anything at all since the last blog post. *my bad*
But there is something else I'd like to share with you today.
I feel like I'm experiencing memory loss. Today, I
1. Forgot to defrost the chicken breasts,
2. Lost my scarf,
3. Forgot what I forgot in the morning.
My memory is leaving me.
Hence when I spotted the salmon heads in the fish section of Sobeys today, I got really excited. I quickly snatched 2 of the 3 that were there (buying all three wouldn't be kind for the next person who wanted to buy some but found that they were all gone). So tomorrow, I will be baking them to replenish my body's depleting amount of omega-3 and memory space.
But do not fear! I will forever remember to write more blog posts.
And eat food.
