Korean BBQ Party

What's not to love about Korea these days.. they seem to have risen and mark their great influence all over the world with their tear jerking and love dramas, hot singing sensations with super bods, fashionistas, gorgeous scenic travel spots, shopping and super-licious food!

Being a great fan of Korean inspirations, I decided to cook up a Korean BBQ party for some friends. Korean BBQ is one of the more popular choices of food influence sprouting up in KL. Well known for its marinated meat and vast amounts of side dishes called “Banchan”, Korean BBQ caters to the delight of all ages and races. Meats and seafood are often grilled on the in-built or portable stoves on the table itself. Most restaurants have their waiters assist in the grilling or one can even request the meat to be grilled in the kitchen to avoid the heavy smoke infusing into its diners’ clothing and hair.

Being a pork groupie, I had two types of marinated pork with one spicy and the second one non spicy. I also prepared beef ribs, prawn and octopus. In addition, I decided to make a popular appetizer Korean pancake, a spicy Kimchi stew and some side dishes. The ever quintessential Kimchi was also present but it was store bought. ( ..too lazy to marinate this as it is now so readily available in our supermarkets =) )

Menu for the night
BBQ: Galbi Beef Ribs, Galbi Pork Neck Meat, Spicy Bulgogi Pork Belly
Garlic and Lemon Prawn; Spicy Octopus, Cuttlefish sausages

Appetizer: Seafood Pajeon, Kimchi Jjigae Stew

Banchan: Broccoli with Sesame Sauce, Pajeori - Spicy Green Onion
Potato & Apple Salad, Kimchi

Condiments: Lettuce, Korean Mushrooms, sliced chilies, sliced fresh garlic,
Ssamjang (Korean spicy bean paste)

As I was running late, I did not  managed to take much pics. I also had to cook the pancake at the venue as it would not travel well and turn into a soggy mess, hence the team fired up the grill and started cooking the food.

One can easily buy the meat, octopus and seasoning at the Korean grocery shops blooming in Sri Hartamas or Little Korea town in Ampang. I marinated the octopus and pork belly strips in a spicy bulgogi marinate which I bought from the Korean store. For the beef short ribs, these were soaked in a Galbi marinade recipe at the end of this blog. Green onions were shredded, soaked in running water to get rid of the strong smell and lightly tossed in soya sauce, sesame oil and Korean chili paste.

I also marinated the pork neck slices in the Galbi sauce above. For the prawns, I simply added chopped garlic, lemon peels, salt, pepper and olive oil. After grilled, a squeeze of lemon juice will enhance the flavour of the prawns.

For the Korean Pajeon, I simply bought a Korean pancake mix which one can find nowadays from any Korean store. Simply mixed with water and add in any kind of chopped seafood of your choice. I added fresh baby oysters, prawns and octopus with long slices of green onions. Put the batter into an oiled hot non-stick pan, then sprinkle in the chopped seafood and top with the long green onions. I also ladled some batter on top of the green onions to cover it. If you like a crispy pancake, add more water to make a thin batter. For thicker and dense pancake, add less water. Serve with some sauce mixture of Korean soy sauce, sesame oil and some chili flakes.

Beef Short Rib Galbi from a Korean website

Ingredients:
16 ribs *
1 cup soy sauce, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water
1 Asian pear, chopped ** (or 1/2 Korean pear)
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons minced garlic
4 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon ground pepper
1 tablespoon juice of ginger

Method
Wash meat lightly as sometimes you can find tiny bone scraps sticking to the meat.
In a food processor, add chopped onion and pear, puree finely.
Pour out to a large bowl, add remaining ingredients and stir well.
Marinate the beef for 8-10 hours or overnight.
They cook fairly fast, 2-3 minutes on each side and is ready to be serve.

*Sugar can be cut down if you do not like your meat too sweet.

I did not managed to take pics of the kimchi stew and other side dishes. The team chowed down as everyone was hungry. I think this meal was quite satisfying as the host happily requested for the leftovers.. =)

We went home smelling like Korean bbq but would gladly do this all over again! Drooling about this as I was writing this blog... (happy sigh..)     ;0)