“This is an awesome dish my gf makes for me. I got her to show me how to make it, here is the recipe.” – Ben

Je Yuk Bok Eum (Korean Chilli Pork Belly)

Serves 4…or makes a lot of leftovers (it’s 1 kg of meat!)

Ingredients:

• 1Kg Thin Pork Belly
• 6 spoons of Korean Chilli paste
• 4 spoons of Korean Corn Syup
• 2.5 spoons of Korean Soy paste
• 3 spoons of crushed garlic puree.
• 4/5 of a spoon of Korean Strong Soy Sauce
• 100-200ml of Stock
• 2 Large Onions
• 500g Mushrooms
• 4 Mild Green Chillis

Gallery of Photos:

Method:

1. In a large mixing bowl, place meat.
   1. You will need to have a bowl big enough to mix all the meat with your hands
   2. Bowl needs to be able to be placed in your fridge to marinate.
2. Cut up onions and mushrooms up in a uniform manner.
3. In a separate bowl, mix all pastes, syrup, soy sauce, garlic until sauce is mixed well.
   1. Taste sauce and create to taste
      1. i.      If it is too hot: add more syrup.
      2. ii.      If it is too bland: add small amount of soy.
      3. iii.      If it is not hot enough, cautiously add some more chilli paste, remember you will be adding fresh chilli during cooking.
4. Place 70-80% of sauce onto meat and add chopped onion.
   1. You will need some spare sauce to adjust for taste when cooking.
   2. Hand stir mixture to ensure sauce is evenly coated.
   3. Also gauge temperature of meat, which will influence the marination times.
5. Allow meat/sauce mixture to marinate in the fridge.
   1. Timing of marination varies with temperature of meat (butcher can sell it frozen).
      1. i.      If Frozen, marinate in fridge for 30-40 minutes.
      2. ii.      If not frozen, marinate in fridge for 20 minutes.
6. Cook meat in a large non-stick pan.
   1. You may need to cook in two batches, depending on how good your stove is.
      1. i.      Just remember if you cook in two batches, ensure you have enough ingredients remaining (mushrooms, fresh chilli) for both batches.
   2. Best method to cook this dish is with tongs, moving around and pulling apart meat.
   3. It is recommended you grab some scissors and make sure the meat itself is in bite-sized pieces as pork belly can come in large chunks. This aids in the cooking.
   4. Add a small volume of stock, which should only be 100-150mls. This is become the liquid sauce component of the dish.
7. Add fresh chilli to mixture.
   1. This will increase the chilli temperature of the dish.
   2. If you have decided to cook in two batches, only use 2 fresh chillis per batch.  (use common sense about those last remaining ingredients).
8. Lastly, add mushrooms.
   1. Mushrooms don’t require much cooking, hence they are the last ingredient to go in.
9. Taste flavour and modify if necessary with remaining sauce.
10. Serve with fresh white rice and enjoy.