Sugarless in Melbourne
I can’t believe I’m out of caster sugar (superfine sugar for those of you north of the hemisphere). Since WHEN am I out of caster sugar? I’m guessing the culprit is mom as she likes using it for marinades as it dissolves more readily than regular white sugar…*sigh* Damnit, I want cake! Asked mom to drive me to the store as it’s pouring down with rain, she told me to walk.
It’s freeeezing! Not in this lifetime!
Anyway, instead of cake, here are two traditional Korean dishes - both are solid favourites in my household, and both go down well in winter as they’re warm and filling!
Korean boiled ribs
Korean Boiled Beef Ribs
Ingredients
1kg beef short ribs, cut into 5cm lengths
2-3 carrots, peeled and chopped into 5cm long lengths
150g dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked
1 onion, cut into quarters
2 potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp of garlic
4 tbsp of sugar
2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp of hondashi (Japanese beef stock, but regular beef stock will be fine)
1. Cut off the fat from the meat and make cuts into the thick parts to help the marinade sink in. Put the meat into cold water to soak the blood out for at least an hour.
2. Drain the meat. Put a pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil, once boiling add the meat and boil for about 15-20 minuts. Remove from stove and drain the water out.
3. Add the carrots, onion, potato and rehydrated shiitake mushrooms. Also add soy sauce, water, garlic, sugar, salt, and beef stock. Mix it all up so that all the veggies and meat are coated in the soy mix then put the lid on and slowly bring to the boil.
4. Boil for about 10 minutes, then taste the sauce and add more sugar or salt according to taste. Bring the heat down to a low flame and cook for 30mins - 1hr, or till meat is tender enough to easily pull apart and potato and carrots are soft enough to mush.
The best way to serve this dish is with a bowl of rice - my favourite way to eat this is to grab some carrot, potato and onion and mush it into my rice so it’s all mixed in, then just take a bite of rib with a spoon of rice. It’s very rich and filling, the flavours are strong and you may also consider serving this dish with some cucumber and carrot sticks to balance out the richness.
Technorati Tags: korean food, korean recipes, galbi, beef ribs, marinade, sauce
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Comments
Ellie mm, boiled dinners are fantastic! You’d think that the meat would become tough and overcooked, but the long, low simmer breaks them down and makes them so beautifully tender! I’d love to see your mother’s version - perhaps when it’s your turn for winter? 
Ahhh, how I would love to be able to create my own sweet dust…but alas, I am not in possession of a food processor 
One of the many kitchen investments I’m yet to make!
cris i guess every country has their own version of this dish. nevertheless, i have tasted this! it is indeed delightful (just like other korean dishes!!!)
filipino version - kalderetang baka 
rae hi, how many does the portions described above serve? i’m thinking of cooking this and having some friends over, and i was wondering if i would need to double the portions or anything. thanks!
Ellie Rae - entirely depends on how hungry you are, but it feeds my family of 5 when served alongside bowls of rice 
rae hey, so i made the kalbi jjim for some of my korean friends tonight and they LOVED IT!! thanks for the recipe! btw i ended up almost tripling the amount of soy sauce and water.. probably because i was eyeballing my proportions for the other ingredients and ended up with more stuff.. though i\’m pretty sure i used less than 1kg of kalbi. just thought i\’d give some feedback. nonetheless, it was yummylicious, and made my korean friends miss home. so thanks for sharing!
Ellie Rae, glad to hear that your friends enjoyed their meal! I’m not sure about the soy and water amounts, we’re making it again for the Lunar New Year so I’ll double check the quantities then
Wow the Irish make this as well! At least my Irish mother does.. she calls it, simply, “a boiled dinner” she’ll either use the shortribs or pork “western” ribs, or cottage hams. It is delish and one of my most favorite winter dinners EVER.
Also.. if you ever run out of caster sugar again, try throwing some regular sugar into a food processor or spice mill and giving it a whirl for a few minutes.. if you let it go too long the sugar will turn into dust. hehe