Korean "Dduk Galbi"

"Dduk Galbi" and Korean Kimchi Stew for dinner last night

"Dduk" means rice cake and "galbi" literally means "ribs" in Korean but most people think of Korean marinated ribs when they hear the word. "Dduk galbi" is finely chopped rib meat marinated with sweetened soy sauce then shaped to look like a piece of rectangular rice cake. According to my research, "dduk galbi" was first created so that the king could enjoy the taste of galbi without holding ribs with his fingers to bite off the meat. 

I first made this with sliced ribeye couple months back but this time I added a few slices of "sam-gyup-sal" (pork belly), a secret ingredient revealed by a famous dduk galbi restaurant owner from a Korean TV show I watched last weekend. The addition of pork made it super moist and more flavorful. 

Ingredients-

- 2 lbs of sliced ribeye

- 4-5 slices of "sam-gyup-sal" or pork belly

- 6 tablespoons of soysauce

- 2 tablespoons of minced garlic

- 1 teaspoon of minced ginger

- 3 tablespoons of finely chopped green onion

- 3/4 cup of finely chopped onion (use food processor!) 

- 1 tablespoon of salt

- dashes of black pepper

- 1 tablespoon of sesame oil

- 1 egg

- 3 tablespoons of "mae-sil-chung"

 * "mae-sil-chung" is syrup made with plums. You can get a jar of this from big Korean supermarkets such as H Mart. It adds flavor and acts as a natural sweetener in many Korean recipes and you can also make tea with it *

- 2 tablespoons of sugar

* If you don't have "mae-sil-chung", use 2 tablespoons of honey and 3 tablespoons of sugar

How-to-

1. The hardest part: chop sliced ribeye and "sam-gyup-sal" by hand because using ground meat or grinding the meat will make it crumbly and we want the texture to be chewy somewhat like real galbi.

2. Combine meat, salt, black pepper, and ginger in a mixing bowl. Knead the meat for a couple minutes.

3. Add soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, "mae-sil-chung" or honey, egg, onion, and chopped green onion to #2 and mix.

4. Shape the mixture by hands or use a cookie pan as I did. Place a sheet of wax paper on a rectangular cookie pan, spread the mixture, and cut into even pieces (I got 12 pieces). Freeze it for a short time in order to keep the shape. 

5. Combine 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of water, 2 teaspoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil in a small bowl. Set a side.(For 5 pieces of "dduk galbi")

6. For the best result, cook it over the grill. Otherwise: Heat the pan over high heat and add some oil. Place 5 pieces of "dduk galbi" and flip them over after 30 seconds. Turn down the heat to medium low, cover if you can so that the meat will cook through. When they are completely cooked, add #5 to the pan and turn the heat up to medium high. When #5 is reduced to almost none, turn the heat off!