← Nouns Cooking · Korean

Ingredients

• 600 g skinless pork belly, sliced 5 mm–1 cm thick
• salt and pepper
• 8 cloves Garlic, thinly sliced
• 150 g king oyster or button mushrooms, sliced (optional)
• 200 g well-fermented kimchi (optional)
• 2 heads of soft lettuce, leaves separated and washed
• 16 Perilla leaves (kkaennip) (optional)
• 2 Green chilli, sliced
• 2 tbsp Doenjang (Korean soybean paste)
• 1 tbsp Gochujang
• 1 clove Garlic, minced
• 2 tsp Toasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp honey or sugar
• 1 tsp Sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp Water
• 2 tbsp Toasted sesame oil
• ½ tsp Salt
• Black pepper

Method

1. Stir the ssamjang ingredients into a thick paste. Mix the sesame oil, salt and pepper in a small dish for the second dip.
2. Pat the lettuce and perilla leaves dry and pile them on a plate with the chilli and a few raw garlic slices.
3. Heat a griddle or cast-iron pan over medium-high heat; it needs no oil. Lay the pork slices flat, season lightly and leave them for 3–4 min, until deep golden underneath.
4. Flip and cook for 2–3 min more, until browned and cooked through. Cut into bite-sized pieces with kitchen scissors.
5. Push the meat to one side and fry the garlic, mushrooms and kimchi in the rendered fat for 3–4 min, until golden.
6. To eat, put a lettuce leaf in your palm, add a perilla leaf, a piece of pork dipped in the sesame salt, some garlic and a dab of ssamjang. Fold it up and eat it in one bite.

Tips

• Tip off some fat as it collects so the pork crisps instead of stewing.
• A tabletop grill or electric griddle lets everyone cook as they eat, the way it is done in Korean BBQ restaurants.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Korean Bapsang Kimchimari