Bulgogi

불고기[Bul-Go-Gi]

When I taught in Saturday Korean school while in college, I used to quiz students on Korean foods. Many of the students - mostly second generation Korean American children or either side of whose parents is Korean in interracial marriage - have never been to Korea before or rarely had firsthand experience with Korea. When it came to talking about foods, however, the kids seemed so engaged and became the expert of whatever Korean foods of their liking. After all, they found Korean 'foods' the closest and easiest cultural element they could associate with to their mother country.

Of all Korean dishes, I remember, Bulgogi was the favorite dish that kids liked the most. The sweetness and tender meat of Bulgogi must've settled favorably on their picky taste buds. It is not surprising that Bulgogi is also another well-known, next to Kimchi, favorite Korean dish to many westerners. At the end of semester, the teachers got together and held a cooking session for the children. We cooked bulgogi and other dishes that kids liked. It was a blast; kids loved making their own Korean dishes as much as eating them. I hope Korean food-lovers also enjoy the sense of fun cultural engaging through KoreanHomeCooking.com ;D

For 5-6 servings

Main ingredients:
beef rib eye (4 lb, thinly sliced)
oyster mushroom (4-5, sliced)
enoki mushroom (2 bags)
scallion (4 stalks, julienned)
onion (1/2 large, sliced)
sweet bell peppers (2-3, sliced)

For seasoning:
soy sauce (2/3 cup)
garlic (5 cloves, ground in blender)
onion (1/2 large, ground in blender)
honey (2 tbl)
brown sugar (2 tbl)
scallion (4 stalks, chopped)
sesame oil (2 tbl)
sesame seeds (1 tbl)

1.

Have thinly-sliced beef rib eye ready.

2.

Blend the garlic and onion together and stir into the seasoning mix of soy sauce, honey, brown sugar, etc.

3.

Mix the sauce into the meat.

4.

Thoroughly marinate the meat in the sauce. Tip: If you prefer lean and more tender texture of meat, add 1/2 kiwi to the sauce.

5.

Prepare vegetables.

6.

Mix vegetables with marinated meat.

7.

Leave it for 1 hour before cooking. If you can't wait, it's ok to cook right away, too. :)

8.

On high heat, quickly grill the marinated meat and vegetables.