Sweet Rice Bulgogi (Chapssal Bulgogi)

Season the thinly sliced sirloin pieces (cut for bulgogi) with salt and pepper. It’s easiest to start when the pieces are still a bit frozen where the individual pieces are still stiff but defrosted enough that each piece falls apart easily. Season each piece by sprinkling some salt and pepper onto them and layering them onto a wide plate.

Once all the beef pieces are seasoned, coat each piece in sweet rice flour and set aside. The product I use is Koda Farms, Mochiko flour. You can find this in both oriental and American supermarkets.

Chapsal bulgogi tastes best when it’s hot so it’s a good idea to prepare the vegetables and the sauce before you start cooking the meat. If your meat is too frozen, you can work on the sauce and veggies even before you coat the meat.

Wash and clean the green onions. Thinly slice the green onions by cutting them into approx. 2 in long pieces and then slicing each piece thinly. This is not the only way to do it but I found (over the years) this is one of the easiest and quickest way to do it. This is called (pache) and it serves as a condiment to many meat dishes.

Soak them in cold water for 5 min. or more. Soaking takes away the strong taste of raw onions and also makes them extra crunchy. The green onion pieces will start to curl up as shown below. Drain and serve.

Wash and clean the perilla leaves. Here’s a tip for cutting perilla leaves quickly: stack a bunch of leaves and fold the bunch in half lengthwise and cut altogether into 3/8 in strips. You can save a lot of cutting this way!

Make the sauce by mixing soy sauce, sugar, honey and yellow mustard. Chop some pine nuts and sprinkle on top. You can taste it and add more sugar or honey to taste. It should taste salty and sweet with a hint of spiciness!

Now it’s time to cook the meat! Heat 2 Tbs of sesame oil in a frying pan on medium high heat. Fry each side of the beef until it’s golden brown and crispy.

Serve the bulgogi, vegetables and sauce. Best way is to cook only few pieces at a time and eat while they are still warm and crispy.

Here’s how you eat it: add some vegetables in the center of the bulgogi and sprinkle some of the sauce on top. Now wrap the bulgogi into a roll, hold it with your chopsticks and in goes the chapsal bulgogi into your mouth!