A couple of weeks ago, Eric and I had our friends Allison and Mohamed over for dinner. Since Allison has guest blogged here before, she understood that this dinner party would be the perfect opportunity for me to try out some new recipes. I made the following recipe for the first time, but due to Moh’s undying love for chocolate, I just had to make him this cake for dessert. Since Moh also has a penchant for eating “dead animals”, I knew a meat-based meal was in order. I’ve long wanted to find a good recipe for Korean beef, since I love Korean BBQ so much. This recipe got great reviews on Allrecipes.com, and even the reviewers of Korean descent deemed it authentic and gave it a thumbs up!
What You’ll Need
- 2 lb thinly sliced steak (the original recipe calls for Scotch fillet/chuck eye steaks, but I used sirloin steaks that were on sale for a great price)
- ½ cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 5 tbsp mirin (Japanese sweet wine)
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 5 tbsp white sugar
- 2 ½ tbsp sesame seeds
- 3 shallots OR ½ white onion, finely cut into half moons
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed or very finely minced
- ⅛ tsp kiwi pulp
Note: Mirin and sesame oil are available in almost every large-chain supermarket in the ethnic food section, or in your local Asian grocery.
Since I forgot to buy shallots, I made do with a small onion. I used about half since shallots are very small, and I cut it into fairly thin half moons.
After the onions are chopped, combine the soy sauce, mirin, sesame seeds, sesame oil, sugar, garlic, and onion in a large mixing bowl.
Although the original recipe doesn’t call for this, I read a very interesting tip in one of the reviews. Apparently, many Asian cooks will add ⅛ tsp of kiwi per 1 ½ lb of meat to act as a tenderizer. I knew that papaya contains enzymes that help break down meats, but I didn’t know kiwi also had the same properties. Be careful how much you add – if you go overboard it can supposedly turn your meat into mush!
I wouldn’t spend the money to add papaya to a recipe, but this little guy was only 50 cents, and I got to eat the rest of him while I was cooking!
Next, I sliced my steaks against the grain into thin (¼”) strips. Although I didn’t have this problem, if your meat is very soft, you can put it in the freezer until it becomes slightly firm to make cutting it easier.
Place all of the meat in the bowl with the marinade and toss the contents so that the steak strips are fully coated.
Cover the bowl and let it marinate in the fridge for at least 12 but up to 24 hours.
When you’re ready for dinner, heat a wok or large sauté pan until it is steaming hot. Add the meat and the marinade. Toss the meat continuously for 3-4 minutes until it has browned on all sides. Since the strips are fairly thin, the meat will cook quickly, so take care not to overdo it.
This picture is a little blurry because of all of the steam billowing off of the dish. I served the beef with Jasmine rice seasoned with lime and cilantro, as well as green beans that I had sautéed with red pepper strips and red pepper flakes. This beef was AMAZING. Although I don’t have any point of comparison, since this was the first time I made it, I really do think adding the kiwi made a difference. The beef was tender but not mushy, and due to the long marinating period, intensely flavorful with every bite. The sesame seeds add a nice bit of crunch and balance out the soft texture of the beef and rice together. Between the four of us, we each had one to two large servings of this, and thankfully I had enough for lunch leftovers (even better the second day!). One great advantage to this meal is that it takes almost no effort to get it started, besides the forethought to get it marinating the day before you want to eat it, but it seems much more complex and fancy than it actually is! Plus, when you actually get to the cooking step, dinner is ready in less than 5 minutes. This had all the authentic flavors you would get at any Korean restaurant for a whole lot less money – and that’s always a good thing in my book!
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