Spicy Korean Pork {for the night you want to skip nuggets or grilled cheese}

So, after the success of the Cheeseburger Meatloaf last week Danielle has decided to spice it up a bit. Wait until you see the pictures.. the 'fauxtography' is rather impressive, I must say. So, if you decide to give this recipe a whirl, please leave a comment. I would love to know your take on this dinner with a little bite.
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I love spicy ethnic food!  Unfortunately my food preferences do not mesh with that of my family.  However, my husband and I both have found that we LOVE Korean food.  A Korean BBQ restaurant was recommended to us by a friend that we both thoroughly enjoyed.  Since then I have been trying to recreate the experience at home.  Fortunately once you have the ingredients for a Korean recipe on hand many of them are actually very simple and fast.  My friend passed along several good recipes that she prepares for her family that I plan to try and share soon.

For this particular recipe you do need to make a trip to an Asian grocery store.  Luckily for me, there are several in my area.  Don’t let the Asian market intimidate you.  Once you have gone you may decide to do most of your shopping there.  The produce is amazing and you can find all your standard groceries plus many others you may have difficulty finding.  The pork shoulder was readily available at the market and ALREADY thinly sliced.  At first I assumed red pepper powder was cayenne pepper.  I made the smart decision to verify this with my friend.  She explained that it is different, used in many Korean recipes and also available at the Asian grocery store.  It was not hard to find this ingredient in the store.  In fact they sell it  in so many different size packages it took up almost an entire isle.  The remaining ingredients should be readily available at your average grocery store.  

I decided to serve the pork with lettuce for wraps.  This is what they do at the Korean restaurant and it really does work well.  I also made an easy and QUICK cucumber kimchi instead of Korean kimchi.  This can be served on top of the pork or on the side.  It doesn’t have the pickled taste of regular kimchi, but is very good.  

(Addisyn had a grilled cheese tonight because we can’t always eat like a 2 year old.)

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Spicy Marinated Pork

(Dwaeji Bulgogi)

Serving Size: 2  (I doubled this recipe for guests)

Ingredients:

14 oz. pork shoulder, thinly sliced

3 Tbsp. red pepper powder

1 Tbsp. soy sauce

2 Tbsp. granulated sugar

1 Tbsp. Asian Sesame Oil

1Tbsp. minced garlic

2 Tbsp. mirin

pinch of black powder

Directions:

Put all the ingredients except the pork in a bowl and stir to mix well.  Add the pork to the mixture, making sure the sauce is evenly applied to the slices.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it marinate in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before cooking.  Stir-fry until fully cooked.

For the Quick Cucumber “kimchi”
I like using English cucumbers or Japanese cucumbers – the skin is thinner and they have less seeds. If you have a julienne slicer I think this works great and is even nicer then the thin slices.

1 large English cucumber (or 2 Japanese cucumbers), sliced very thinly
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon finely minced fresh chili pepper (or more depending on your tastes)
generous pinch of salt

Mix together all ingredients. You can make this a few hours in advance and store in refrigerator, however the longer it sits, the less “crunch” you’ll have. I like making this cucumber pickle 1 hour prior, storing in refrigerator, and serving it cold for texture and temperature contrast.

spicy pork

Spicy marinated pork in a lettuce wrap

Cucumber Kimchi