Korean bulgogi burritos – tender soy and sugar marinated beef, charred crisp and wrapped in a burrito with a rainbow of greens. A delight for the palate … and the palette.
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We all the time try to ensure a recipe tastes good. That’s the brass ring of dwelling cooking. If it additionally appears appetizing, that’s a fairly good objective to attain. We’ll admit, although, that cooked meat tends in the direction of the … there’s no higher solution to say this … brown a part of the spectrum. It’s only a reality of life. A dish that pops all around the colour wheel isn’t one thing you are inclined to encounter a lot previous childhood jello desserts. That’s one motive we’re notably happy with these Korean bulgogi burritos. In addition to the truth that they’re insanely, addictively scrumptious, they’re additionally pleasant to take a look at. There’s yellow, purple, crimson, inexperienced – and all with out resorting to synthetic coloring. Let’s dive in.
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Bulgogi (“fire-meat” in Korean) is thinly sliced beef, marinated and shortly pan-seared. It’s often made with expensive ribeye however you can even use English-cut boneless brief ribs (our favourite), or sirloin. When you’re slicing the meat your self, you’ll need it as skinny as you will get it (use a really sharp knife) – 1/8″ or much less is right, and slice towards the grain of the meat which helps make it extra tender.
Ribeye by nature may be very tender, however if you happen to’re utilizing brief ribs or sirloin as an alternative, they’ll should be tenderized whereas marinating – and for that, we add a bit grated Asian pear, which accommodates the calpain enzyme. You’ll find this selection with the opposite pears within the fruit aisle of excellent supermarkets – it’s spherical, like an apple (it could even be marked as “apple pear”). You can additionally use a bit pineapple juice in a pinch, however if you happen to do, don’t marinate the meat for greater than a few hours because it has a stronger enzymatic motion and might make the meat mushy.
Basic bulgogi will characteristic beef marinated in a combination of principally soy sauce, sugar and mirin (candy rice wine), pan-fried or quick-grilled and served with lettuce leaves and numerous facet dishes reminiscent of kimchi. We’ve taken all these flavors and substituted a burrito wrap for the lettuce, making it right into a wrap good for both a sit-down dinner or a meal on the go. We suggest utilizing a big cast-iron or heavy chrome steel skillet as a way to get the utmost char on the sides of the meat.
The opposite recipe we’ve included right here is for pickled Daikon radish, known as danmuji. The pleasant yellow colour comes from the turmeric that we use within the pickle brine. You’ll be able to (and may) make this just a few days forward of the burritos to permit the pickle to completely develop. Historically you’ll discover this pickle sliced in skinny rounds however we sliced the radish lengthways so it might match snugly into the wrap with the opposite components and never fall out when you’re biting into it. It would final within the fridge for at the least a month.
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We’ve additionally used store-bought kimchi (if you happen to make your personal, we salute you). All the opposite components for the burritos are uncooked – shredded crimson cabbage, cilantro (not historically Korean however scrumptious right here nonetheless), scallions, limes to squeeze, and at last a bit bitter cream combined with spicy gochujong paste. Truthfully, something you want in a standard burrito would in all probability be nice on this – avocado, pickled crimson onions and shredded lettuce come to thoughts. Simply do not forget that the bulgogi is the star.
We suggest extra-large (12″) flour tortillas which have been flippantly warmed, to melt, in a low oven between sheets of damp paper towel. We initially tried utilizing customary 10″ tortillas, however the burrito they created simply wasn’t large enough to pack in all our bulgogi goodies. You’ll be able to layer the rice fairly thinly, because it’s actually appearing as a sushi-roll-like outer wall for the opposite contents to nestle into. Serve it with a bit bitter cream swirled with gochujang for a spicy-hot facet sauce, and supply just a few quartered limes for squeezing. And perhaps a beer or three.
The recipe we’ve put collectively ought to fill 4 fairly massive burritos – and naturally you’ll be able to slice them in two, as we’ve got, as a lighter meal for extra mouths. When you made an excessive amount of for one sitting, they are going to be fortunately re-heated – fully wrap them in foil and place in a 325F oven for round 20 minutes.
And there you will have it. All of the flavors of a bulgogi, all of the comfort of a burrito, all (effectively, most of) the colours of the rainbow. There’s nothing mistaken with a bit extra each from time to time.
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