Bulgogi can easily be made into a hearty, steaming, and flavorful hot pot (jeongol) dish that is perfect for the cold winter months.

Making bulgogi jeongol is fairly simple. First make bulgogi by marinating thinly sliced beef. It’s even better if you have leftover bulgogi. Then, arrange a variety of fresh vegetables and bulgogi in a shallow pot, add some broth, and cook.

Depending on the size of your pot, you can cook in two batches, or you can add more ingredients as you cook, or take some out to eat if you’re cooking at the table.

Sweet potato starch noodles (dangmyeon) is also commonly added to this dish. The noodles are so good after soaking up the flavorful broth.

Bulgogi is sweet, so I don’t add sugar to the broth. The sweetness that the bulgogi releases makes the broth slightly sweet, not too sweet, but if you like it sweeter, add a little bit of sugar to the broth.

Ingredients:

450 grams thinly sliced beef (rib eye or top sirloin)


For the Marinade:

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon honey (or use more sugar)

1 tablespoons rice wine (or mirim)

1 tablespoons garlic

1 tablespoons sesame oil

2 teaspoons sesame seeds

3 tablespoons grated Asian pear

1/8 teaspoon pepper


For the Broth:

1 piece (about 8 centimeters square) dashima (dried kelp)

80 grams Korean radish, cut into big chunks

1/4 onion

1 tablespoon soup soy sauce

Salt and pepper to taste


For the vegetables:

1 small carrot

2 medium baechu (napa cabbage) leaves

1/2 medium onion

100 grams assorted mushrooms (button, shiitake, oyster, enoki, etc.)

2 to 3 scallions

50-80 grams minari (water dropwort)

1 red chili pepper 


For the noodles:

80 grams dangmyeon (sweet potato noodles), soaked in warm water for 20 minutes


Mix all the marinade ingredients in a large bowl. If using packaged pre-sliced meat, run a knife through it to cut into smaller pieces. Add the meat to the marinade. Toss gently with your hands, to mix everything well. Marinate while preparing the other ingredients.

Put 5 cups of water and the broth vegetables in a medium size pot. Bring it to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and boil for 5 minutes. Remove the dashima, and continue to boil for about 15 minutes. Discard the vegetables. Season with the soup soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste.

Cut the cabbage and carrot into thin, bite size pieces. Thinly slice the onion and mushrooms. Cut the scallions and minari in similar lengths.

Using a wide, shallow pot, neatly arrange the bulgogi and vegetables in clusters. Add the noodles.

Add 2 to 3 cups of broth and cook over high heat, separating the bulgogi pieces. You can add more broth and any remaining ingredients while eating if you’re cooking at the table.

For more recipes visit www.koreanbapsang.com.

By Ro Hyo-sun