What's Cooking Wednesday: Bulgogi

I have been eyeing a friend's exemplar Asian cooking photos a lot lately and it's given me the desire to try it myself. This was my first attempt at Beef Bulgogi and we can't wait to have it again. 

Beef Bulgogi

Ground beef

Rice

Carrots (cut matchstick)

Cilantro

Cucumber (thinly sliced)

Rice wine vinegar

Sour cream 

Siracha

Sweet thai chili sauce

Rice

Sesame seeds

Sugar

Bulgogi sauce

Soy sauce

Brown sugar

Garlic 

Ginger

Sesame oil

Pear juice

Scallions

For the sauce, mix 3/4 cup soy sauce, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup pear juice, 2-3 minced garlic cloves, a chunk of fresh ginger (I used a frozen ginger cube and defrosted it quickly), 1 tablespoon sesame oil. Whisk quickly until brown sugar is diluted. Add in thinly sliced scallions to taste. Set sauce to the side. 

Quickly marinate cucumbers. Take 2 tablespoons of the vinegar and 1 teaspoon of sugar, quickly mix, and add in thinly sliced cucumbers. Set aside to marinate. 

Mix 2 tablespoons of sour cream with a teaspoon of thai chili sauce and 1/2 teaspoon of siracha. Mix and set aside.

In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, lightly cook the carrots in a teaspoon of oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook no more than 3 minutes and set aside. In the same pan, in another teaspoon of oil, cook some scallions and garlic for 1-2 minutes then add in the ground beef. After about 5 minutes, sprinkle in some sesame seeds. When it's almost totally brown, add in the bulgogi sauce. Bring it to a simmer then turn off the heat. 

While beef is cooking, make rice. 

To assemble, put rice on the bottom of a shallow bow. Then add a scoop of the beef mixture. Top with some pickled cucumbers and matchstick carrots. Sprinkle fresh cilantro over the top and add a few small dollups of the sour cream mixture for kick (that was my favorite part!) 

And while it seems like a long process and a lot of steps, it took maybe 20 minutes and was SO worth it.