Sunday, December 21, 2008

Spicy Korean Beef Curry





The inspiration for this recipe is our wonderful Korean friend’s wife.

It was to be our last summer on Long Island. Both Dan and I were stuck in our own terrible housing situation. The only affordable housing in and around Stony Brook is to rent garages (converted into studios) from people living close to the University, unless you want to share a house with a handful of *extremely clean*, like minded individuals. So, anyhow Dan was having fun in his spider-infested garage, when one day his land-lady informed him that he was being traded in for a Korean art-professor. In retrospect, that was one of the best things that happened during his stay there. Dan made friends with the Korean Professor. We had quite a few-get-togethers including an Indian dinner (prepared by Shiva), Mexican night (by Dan) and several Sushi dinners accompanied by several bottles of Soju (hosted by our friend). But one of the most amazing meals we had was the Korean pork curry with sesame leaf and Ramen noodles made by our friend’s wife. It was something very unique from the meals you get at most Asian restaurants in this country.

Recently, one of our friends introduced us to a lovely Korean market in San Diego (Zion Marketplace). We decided to try and recreate the Korean curry. So, after some internet-research and couple of trial rounds, we came up with this recipe. We can only hope that it as good as our friend’s. Combat!

Ingredients:

Marinade:
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp canola oil
3 tbsp rice wine
2 tbsp chili sauce
1 tsp sesame seeds
½ tsp black pepper (ground)
3 tsp sugar
4 cloves garlic (minced)
½ inch ginger (minced)
½ c scallions (finely chopped)

1 lb beef (thinly slices, cut into strips)
½ lb broccoli (small to medium sized florets)
1pkt noodles

Method:
1. Add the beef to marinade and refrigerate overnight.
2. In a wok combine the broccoli along with the marinated beef. Cook for about 8-10 minutes till beef is browned and the broccoli is tender.
3. While the beef is cooking, prepare the noodles as per the directions on the packet.
4. Serve the beef along with the sauce (from marinade) over a plate of steaming noodles.

Notes: For my vegetarian friends: substitute beef with fried bean curd or steak tofu.
Make a wrap, filling the sesame leaf with beef curry. The leaf has a characteristic anise-like flavor that complements beef very well.


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