Easy Korean Bulgogi Beef Bowl
Minced beef browned hard and glazed in a sweet, garlicky bulgogi-style sauce with grated pear, served over short-grain rice with quick-pickled cucumber, carrot, kimchi and a fried egg. Ready in about 30 minutes.
Ingredients
Rice
- 300 g (1 ½ cups) short-grain white rice
- 420 ml (1 ¾ cups) water
Quick cucumber pickle
- 1 medium cucumber (about 200 g / 7 oz), thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) rice vinegar
- 1 tsp sugar
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
Bulgogi sauce
- 60 ml (¼ cup) soy sauce
- 2 tbsp (25 g) light or dark brown sugar
- 60 g (¼ cup) finely grated Asian pear or apple
- 4 garlic cloves, finely grated
- 1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) toasted sesame oil
- ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp (18 g) gochujang (optional)
Beef
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) neutral oil
- 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) minced (ground) beef, 15–20% fat
- 1 small onion, thinly sliced
- 3 spring onions (scallions), whites and greens sliced separately
To serve
- 1 medium carrot, cut into matchsticks or coarsely grated
- 4 large eggs (optional)
- 150 g (1 cup) kimchi
- 1 tbsp (9 g) toasted sesame seeds
- roasted seaweed (gim) strips (optional)
Instructions
- Rinse the rice in several changes of cold water until only slightly cloudy. Bring to a boil with 420 ml (1 ¾ cups) water, cover, cook on the lowest heat for 15 minutes, then rest off the heat, covered, for 10 minutes.
- Toss the cucumber with the vinegar, sugar and salt and set aside.
- Stir together the sauce ingredients.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Press the beef into a flat layer and leave 3–4 minutes until deeply browned underneath, then break up and cook 2–3 minutes until no pink remains. Spoon off all but about 1 tbsp fat.
- Add the onion and spring onion whites and cook 2–3 minutes until softened.
- Add the sauce and cook 2–4 minutes, stirring, until glossy and sticky with little liquid left. Stir in half the spring onion greens.
- Fry the eggs in a little oil over medium heat for 2–3 minutes, until the whites are set and the yolks runny.
- Divide the rice between bowls and top with the beef, drained cucumber, carrot, kimchi, egg, remaining spring onion greens, sesame seeds and seaweed.
Notes
- Sliced-beef bulgogi: slice 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) part-frozen ribeye or sirloin 2–3 mm (⅛ in) thick across the grain, marinate in the sauce with the onion for 30 minutes to 24 hours, and sear in batches over high heat for 1–2 minutes.
- Gluten-free: use tamari and check the gochujang and kimchi labels.
- No pear or apple: add 2 tsp extra brown sugar.
- Storage: beef up to 4 days in the fridge or 3 months frozen; reheat until piping hot (74°C / 165°F). Cool rice quickly, refrigerate within 1 hour, eat within 24 hours and reheat only once.