Slow Cooked Kalbi: Korean Beef Short Ribs
This dish is very simple and takes just minutes to prepare. Let the marinade work its magic for a few hours and you'll be delighted with the result.
PREP TIME
15
MINUTES
COOKING TIME
240
MINUTES
Ingredients
For the ribs:
2kg style beef short ribs
150g soft brown sugar
250ml soy sauce
125ml cup water
60ml rice wine or mirin
1 small onion
1 small Asian pear or 2 kiwi fruit
50g garlic cloves
60g fresh ginger
30ml toasted sesame oil
A good grind of black pepper
To serve:
3 spring onions
Handful toasted sesame seeds
2 heads of little gem lettuce
Boiled rice
For the ssamjang:
80g Korean soybean paste or miso
2 tbsp gochujang
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1tsp honey
1 clove garlic, grated
1tbps finely chopped onion
20g flaked almonds
½ apple, cored and finely chopped
Method
Put the ribs in a big bowl and sprinkle over all the sugar; rub the sugar into the ribs to coat them well. Let that rest on your counter top, while you prepare the marinade. Peel and roughly chop the onion, garlic, and ginger root. Peel the Asian pear or kiwi fruit, and roughly chop those, too. Pop the lot, along with the rest of the ingredients for the marinade, into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Pour the marinade over the ribs, making sure they are well coated. Cover with cling film, and marinade in the fridge overnight.
The next day, heat your oven to 130c for a fan oven. Put the ribs and marinade into a casserole dish, cover with a lid and cook for four to five hours, until the meat is soft and tender and just falls away from the bone. These ribs will have produced quite a lot of fat during the slow-cooking process, so either use a fat separator or just scoop it off the surface when your ribs are cooked. Remove the ribs to a serving platter and keep them warm, while you reduce the sauce a little over medium heat, if it needs to thicken a little. Do this rather than use cornflour, as you will get a much better flavour and it will only take five to 10 minutes.
Make your ssamjang by popping all the ingredients into a food processor and blitzing until smooth. This will only take a minute or two. Wash the lettuce leaves, keeping them whole. Serve them up on the side in a little bowl. Chop the spring onions, serve those in a little bowl, and then slice some fresh red chilli and serve that up, too. Pour the sauce over the ribs, and scatter them with some chopped spring onion and toasted sesame seeds. The idea here is to have the platter of ribs, the lettuce leaves, little bowls with sauces and toppings, some stir-fried greens and a bowl of plain boiled rice in the middle of the table.
Everyone can them help themselves to whatever they fancy. Have some of the meat on a lettuce leaf topped with spring onion and chilli to make a gorgeous, bite-sized parcel of food. Have some more with rice and stir-fried greens and lots of the lovely, rich, sweet sauce. This is a meal that will give you a few different eating experiences, all of them absolutely delicious.
