Bulgogi Recipe

When I was young we periodically had a dish for dinner that my parents called Bulgogi. Dad said that he had eaten it when he was in Korea before he and Mom were married. Then later after they were married they worked together to come up with a recipe to make this dish that Dad enjoyed when he had been in Korea. My parents made it with beef when I was growing up and when we first had it, it was made with just the beef and no vegetables. Later on, I remember we added carrots to the recipe.

This is one of the first dishes I remember being able to help prepare when I was younger was Bulgogi. It was sometime during early elementary school when Mom would be preparing this dish. She would get out the beef and slice it and hand me the recipe card to measure and mix up the sauce. It made me feel very important to be able to be in charge of one of the main parts of the recipe. Mixing the sauce was fun too because there were so many spices and liquids to measure and mix in the little bowl before it was poured over the cooking meat. It almost felt like mixing a magic potion.

As a child, my favorite part of this dish was using the extra sauce in the pan to pour over the rice and add the flavor to it. My parents and siblings enjoyed doing this too. Today Hubby and I still pour extra sauce on our rice, but our boys would rather eat their rice plain. I usually serve this dish with brown rice because the heavily flavored sauce masks the flavor of the Jasmine rice. In the case of the picture above, I served the Bulgogi with Jasmine rice because we had run out of brown rice.

This recipe is quick, easy, and delicious. It is wonderful with beef, however, now Hubby and I make it with pork loin for our family because we do not eat much beef, and because beef is so much more expensive. The flavors work very well with the pork. I have never tried it with chicken or turkey before, but I feel that these flavors would not be best with poultry. So here is the recipe my family has been using for many years.

 Prep the ingredients first thing. Slice up the meat and carrots. Then mix up all the other ingredients in a bowl to create the sauce.

Put the meat into a pan over medium heat and start browning the meat for a couple of minutes.

Add the carrot slices for a couple more minutes to soften and continue browning the meat.

Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables and continue to cook until the meat is cooked all the way through and the carrots are softened.

Bulgogi

1 pound thinly sliced beef or pork                                                      dash of pepper

2 Tablespoons sugar                                                                            2 Tablespoons sesame seeds

4 Tablespoons soy sauce                                                                     1 Tablespoon cooking sherry

4 Tablespoons minced green onion                                                     2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons ginger                                                                               3-4 carrots, sliced

Combine all the ingredients except meat and carrots in a small bowl and stir together to make the sauce. Heat a saute pan over medium heat. Then add the meat and let it brown for a couple minutes. Add the carrots and stir for another couple of minutes. While there are still meat juices in the pan that have not evaporated pour the soy sauce mixture into the pan and stir it all together. Continue to cook until the meat is cooked thoroughly and the carrots have softened. Serve over brown or Jasmine rice.