Bossam - Korean Pork Belly Wrap
Bossam refers to this perfect package created by wrapping unctuous pork belly, spicy and refreshing kimchi radish salad in crunchy pickled cabbage leaves. Great as a one dish meal but also great for parties, you just can't stop eating it, especially if you are a pork and kimchi lover.
- Prep time
- 20 min
- Cook time
- 7 min
- Yield
- 6 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 9 cups water
- 1.5 cup Korean sea salt (cheonilyeom) ((for kimchi))
- 2 lb pork belly ((or pork butt, shoulder))
- 8 cups water
- 1.5 Tbsp Doenjang (Korean Soy Bean Paste) ((or miso))
- 3 piecs fresh ginger ((1 pc = 2 grams))
- 2 tsp coffee beans
- 1 lb radish ((Korean or daikon))
- 4 Tbsp red chili powder (gochukaru)
- 1.5 Tbsp fermented salted shrimp ((saewoojeot))
- 1.5 Tbsp anchovy sauce ((myeolchi aekjeot))
- 3 Tbsp garlic ((chopped))
- 0.5 tsp ginger ((grated))
- 1.5 Tbsp sugar
- 0.5 tsp sea salt
- 2 tsp sesame seeds ((roasted))
- 2 green onions ((sliced))
- 2 oz minari (water dropwart) ((optional))
Instructions
- 1
Mix water and Korean cheonilyeom sea salt to make brine.
- 2
Cut head of napa cabbage to loosen leaves to total about 1/2 of the cabbage. You can also just cut cabbage in half and use one side.
- 3
Immerse cabbage leaves in brine made in 1 and let it pickle for 1 1/2 hrs or until cabbage is soft and shriveled. You don't need to fully pickle the leaves like for kimchi - I kind of like it a little less pickled with a little crunch left but it's up to you.
- 4
Drain cabbage for 10-15 minutes until fully drained. If you are not going to use right away, refrigerate up to 3 days and use later.
- 5
When serving, cut cabbage into 1/2 lengthwise to make it easier to eat.
- 6
In a pot add water, add doenjang, fresh ginger and bring to boil.
- 7
Add pork and cook on medium heat for about 30 minutes(for 1 lb) until it becomes tender enough for a fork to go in easily. You may need to cook longer up to an hour if you are increasing the amount of pork.
- 8
Take pork out of the pot and let it cool for few minutes and then loosely cover with wrap or foil until it cools enough for you to slice. Reason for covering is so that it doesn't dry out while cooling. If you can, it's yummiest when you eat the pork while it's warm.
- 9
Julienne radish - either with knife or use a mandoline.
- 10
Cut green onions and minari (water dropwart) if you have it.
- 11
In a small bowl, make seasoning paste by mixing Korean red chili powder, saewoojeot, anchovy sauce, chopped garlic, chopped ginger, sugar, salt except for sesame seeds.
- 12
Add kimchi seasoning paste to bowl with radish and coat radish evenly with the paste. It may feel like it's too dry at first but radish juice will soon make it very wet.
- 13
Add green onions and minari and mix again. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top when serving.
- 14
*** If you want to add oysters, you need to increase salt level by adding more seasoning.
- 15
Serve bossam all in one plate with pork belly slices on one side, cabbage leaves and spicy radish salad on the other side. You can of course serve all of them separately too.