Gochujang Pork Belly

Gochujang pork belly is flavourful Korean pork dish made of thick pork belly strips and flavoured with gochujang paste, sesame oil, ginger, lemon and honey. No need to spend hundreds of peso and simply have your mini samgyupsal at home! Instead of preparing plain pork slices, this gochujang pork belly recipe will show you how to make a flavorful pork in just 3 easy steps. Start firing up the grill and preparing your gochujang pork belly!

GOCHUJANG PORK BELLY RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 600 grams pork belly
• 1 1/2 tablespoons gochujang paste
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sesame oil
• Half lemon
• 2 cloves garlic (minced)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 teaspoons sesame seeds
• Lettuce (optional)

Directions:

1. Prepare the pork belly and slice them into thick strips. Then transfer them to a large bowl. Squeeze half a lemon then add the garlic, ginger powder, honey, sesame oil, soy sauce and gochujang paste. Mix and massage well until fully coated. Cover the bowl using plastic wrap or a large plate. Let this marinate for 25 to 30 minutes.
2. Heat a pan using medium heat setting. Sear the marinated pork for 5 minutes on each side. (You may also cook them on a griller. Flip occassionally until the crust turns into nice brown color.
3. Arrange the gochujang pork belly on a serving plate. Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top. Enjoy this with some lettuce like a samgyupsal or have it with a big bowl of hot and steaming rice. Yum!

WHAT IS PORK BELLY?

Pork belly, more commonly called as liempo, is not your usual piece of pork. If you would look at a picture of a pig, the liempo part can be found in the pigs tummy. Looking at the meat section of the grocery/market, you can observe that liempo is one of the most in demand cuts.

But why do we love the pork belly so much?

Since the pork belly comes from the pig’s tummy, there are alternating layers or fat and lean meat on every slice of the liempo. Being not too fatty and not too lean, this cut is very suitable especially in savoury dishes where you want it a little “nagmamantika” but at the same time, not that putok batok.

Since the rise of samgyupsal bbq in the Philippines, the pork belly had been in great spotlight. They are usually served in bacon cuts, marinated, grilled and enjoyed with lettuce and sauces.

WHAT IS GOCHUJANG SAUCE?

Gochujang paste is sauce which will give the unique taste of the gochujang pork belly featured in this recipe. Have you heard of gochujang paste?

As the number one condiment in Korean cuisine, the gochujang paste is that magic paste which makes any food instantly “with a hint of Korean”. It has a mix of sweet, funky, oddly spicy and savoury flavor from the fermentation of korean red chili pepper powder, glutinous rice, fermented soy beans, garlic, onions and sesame seeds/oil. Making this paste at home can be fun, but buying them from the grocery is much more convenient and can ensure authentic Korean taste. Korea’s red chili powder is also very unique, and you can’t make gochujang sauce using other type of red chili peppers.

The name of this paste came from the word “gochu” which means korean red pepper and “jang” which means paste.

Other famous korean sauces you should definitely try with your pork (and other dishes) include Ssamjang and Doen Jang.

GOCHUJANG PORK BELLY

With the rise of the korean unli barbecue restaurants, our love for gochujang paste increases through time. I had never heard about the gochujang paste before, but right now I have a large tub at home, waiting to be partnered them with pork.

I have tried various restaurant offering k-bbq to know the most flavorful thing you can do to a pork belly. Usually, different sauces are given to you during the start of the grilling which usually includes the gochujang paste, sesame oil and salt. One of the best ones I had was the gochujang pork belly. 

Go straight with enjoying the gochujang pork belly without the need to have some extra dips and sauces. What’s better to hear is that you can make this gochujang pork belly at home! Yum!

HOW TO ENJOY GOCHUJANG PORK BELLY

Unli k-bbq is an ongoing trend I never want to stop. As you all know, I am a heavy meat eater. My favorite gochujang pork belly slices are usually enjoyed from unlimited samgyupsal restaurants. These restaurants offer a wide variety of pork flavors to choose from. Starting with the plain pork, the flavors can go up to the heavily spiced pork or beef.

In unli k-bbq restos, plain pork is one of the top choices among the flavors. Most often than not, people are served with atleast 3 sauces: sesame oil, gochujang paste and soy sauce. Since most unli k-bbq has a 2-hr time limit, having a gochujang flavored pork belly will surely be a hack to lessen the time. Instead of dipping the pork in the gochujang paste before or after, all you needed to shoot them into your mouth and enjoy!

If you wanna know how to make some gochujang pork belly, simple read and follow the simple steps below.

HOW TO PREPARE GOCHUJANG PORK BELLY

Would you believe that you can create a Korean pork dish in just three easy steps? The gochujang pork belly will surely be prepared in a flash of light!

Before anything else, marinating the pork in a mixture of the classic seasonings is always the first step to create a very flavorful dish. For this specific recipe, adding the gochujang paste to the marinade will give its flavors sagad to the bones!

After marinating, all there’s left to do is to fry the marinated pork until brown and crispy. (Although it might look dark red due to the gochujang paste.) Aside from frying them, you can also choose to grill them by batches and enjoy them as samgyupsal! Grab your lettuce and add maybe 1-2 pieces of pork, add your kimchi, pickled radish and cheese. Open your mouth really wide and make a big bite of this flavorful dish!

I usually enjoy my gochujang pork belly either with lettuce or with some hot steaming rice. Either-ways, gochujang pork belly is best enjoyed with chilled soju! Yum!

COOKING TIPS

• You can simply use garlic powder instead of minced garlic.
• One difficulties you might encounter with cooking with gochujang is that the paste can burn if you directly stick it to the pan. Change grill for a few times to ensure that the meat is cooking properly without burning.

Gochujang Pork Belly Recipe in Tagalog

Mga Sangkap:

• 600 grams pork belly
• 1 1/2 kutsara gochujang paste
• 1 1/2 kutsara sesame oil
• Kalahating lemon
• 2 butil ng bawang (hiniwa ng maliliit)
• 1 1/2 kutsarita ginger powder
• 2 kutsara honey
• 2 kutsara sesame seeds
• Lettuce (optional)

Paano Lutuin:

1. Ihanda ang pork belly at hiwain ng makakapal na strips saka ilipat sa isang bowl. Pigaan ito ng kalahating lemon, saka ilagay ang bawang, ginger powder, honey, sesame seeds, toyo at gochujang paste. Haluin ng mabuti para manuot ang marinade. Takpan ang bowl gamit ang plastic wrap o ng malaking pinggan. Imarinate ito ng 25 – 30 minuto.
2. Magpainit ng kawali gamit ang katamtamang apoy. Isangkutsa ang marinated pork ng 5 minuto sa bawat side. (Pwede ring ihawin). Baliktarin ang mga ito ng ilang beses hanggang maging brown.
3. Iayos ang gochujang pork belly sa serving plate. Budburan ito ng sesame seeds sa ibabaw. Enjoyin ito kasama ng lettuce katulad ng sa samgyupsal o samahan ito ng mainit na kanin. Yum!