[ENG] Korean BBQ - Samgyeopsal Party

Last Saturday, me & my friends had a samgyeopsal party at my house. Samgyeopsal is basicly a korean pork belly bbq. The pork belly is usually not marinated, but after grilling it, you dip it in a salt-sesame oil mixture and also a savory sauce called ssamjang that's made from hot pepper paste & soy bean paste. There are lots of kind of korean bbq but i particularly love this one since i love meat that has a good layer of fat in it. pork belly just perfect for this. yum. Korean always make their lettuce wrap when they have their bbq, it's a grilled  meat with some sauce and other things wrap with a fresh lettuce leaf. It's so good & you get to eat your veggie too, in a delicious way ;)

Beside the meat, i also had bunch of things like kimchi, onion, garlic & mushroom that i really think make the whole eating experience goes from YUM to SUPER YUM. And these are the 2 items that i consider a MUST when i have my samgyeopsal.

Ssamjang aka korean dipping sauce. It's really tasty & goes really well with grilled meat, even veggies. You can buy it at korean grocery store or just make your own. I did make my own ssamjang, it's pretty simple, but you'll need gochujang (korean hot pepper paste) and doenjang (soy bean paste).

Well fermented super sour kimchi. Yes, like, super sour. Two years ago i went to a korean restaurant, and they served the samgyeopsal with this kimchi that was grilled with the meat. It was sooo good that i literally went there for 2-3 times a week. Make sure though that you use good kimchi for this. If the kimchi doesn't taste good, it won't do the justice. I just made my own kimchi, you can check the recipe here.

Other than pork belly i also bought some thinly sliced pork loin & pork roast, since not all of my friends like the fatty oily pork belly. It tasted really good too. So if you don't really like pork belly, yes, you can replace it with whatever thinly sliced meat you like.

Since i also made budae jjigae (army base stew) for the party, i only bought enough meat for about 4 servings (it's 8 girls + mom eating). The amount of meat you need will vary on how much you & all your friends/family eat ^^ I usually eat minimum 2 stripes of pork belly, that's about 300-500g. 

Samgyeopsal (4 servings)

2-3 kg pork belly, cut into 1/2-1 cm width stripes

1-2 onion

1 pack shitake mushroom

1-2 whole garlic

2 packs lettuce

fermented sour kimchi 

perilla leaves (optional)

sesame oil

salt

pajori (green onion salad, optional)

ssamjang dipping sauce (for 3-4 kg of meat): 

4 tbsp doenjang

1 tbsp gochujang

1 stalk green onion

1 clove garlic

4 tbsp chopped onion

2 tsp honey/sugar

2 tsp sesame oil

Ssamjang & pajori recipe adapted from Maangchi - Ssamjang (Korean dipping sauce) & Maangchi - Samgyeopsal gui

1. Prepare the veggies. Cut onion into rings. Peel garlic & cut into half. Cut mushroom into bite size pieces.

Wash the lettuce & perilla leaves, drain well.

2. For the ssamjang: Chop the green onion & mince the garlic. Combine all the ingredients together & mix well. Taste for sweetness, adjust the amount of honey/sugar to your liking.

For the green onion salad i didn't really have a recipe ^^ I just cut the green onion into 7 cm length & cut into thin stripes, soak them in water for 5 minutes & drain well. I mix it with some soy sauce & red pepper flakes.

it's kinda hard to cut all the green onion into thin stripes, so i didn't use a whole lot of green onion

3. Prepare the meat. Cut pork belly to fit your grill pan, wash & pat them dry with paper towel.

You can use the thinly sliced meat as it is.

4. Time to grill! Oil your pan with a little bit of oil, or just use some of the pork fat from your pork belly. Put some meat, onion, garlic, mushroom, and don't forget the sour kimchi!

When the pork belly is almost done, cut them into little pieces with kitchen scissors. Do the same with the kimchi & onion.
If you use some thinly sliced meat, you don't have to cut them.

How to eat

Well, you can eat whatever you like, but this is the way i usually it my samgyeopsal. 

First, place 1 tsp of salt & couple tbsp of sesame oil in a small plate. Take a piece of grilled meat and dip in the sesame oil & salt mixture. Eat it.

Second, make your lettuce wrap!

1. Take 1 lettuce leaf (or tear in half if it's too large)

2. Take 1 perilla leaf (optional), place it above the lettuce leaf.

3. Take 1 or 2 pieces of meat.

4. Put some ssamjang sauce.

5. Take some grilled sour kimchi, mushroom, onion & garlic.

6. Lastly put some green onion salad.

7. Wrap them with the leaf & eat in one go! 

Sorry guyz, i was so busy eating that i didn't have time to take photos of the lettuce wrap. But i got a photo from 2 years ago when i first made my homemade samgyeopsal ^^

By the way, if you don't have a grill pan, you can use a normal frying pan. You just have to scoop out the excess pork fat oil with a spoon or wipe it with paper towel. 

Also check how i made Budae Jjigae (Korean Army Base Stew) for the party!

[ENG] Budae Jjigae (Korean Army Base Stew)

Thanks for reading! ;))