Slow Cooked Pork Belly with Bulgogi Sauce and Giveaway

We all have days when finding the time or energy to cook is simply too difficult. With today's post, I hope to help you prepare a delicious meal even when you're having one of those days. I'm sharing a commercially made bulgogi marinade that I've recently discovered. A few months ago, I received an e-mail from a representative at Sempio Food asking if I'd like to try some of their products. Sempio is a household name in Korea. It's the oldest and best-selling commercial brand of soy sauce in Korea -- certainly the soy sauce I grew up with. Today, Sempio makes a wide range of Korean condiments, ready-made sauces, and other food products such as noodles and canned food. I use their products all the time, but I had never used their ready-made sauces for my cooking. In short, the sauces I tried (a spicy sauce for braising fish and bulgogi marinade) really surprised me. They are made with natural ingredients (no MSG) and tasted very much like homemade sauces, making them great options for busy home cooks when time is limited.

Here's what I made with the bulgogi marinade. First, I used it to slow cook some pork belly in the crock pot. I added some fresh garlic, ginger and scallions. Use whichever of these ingredients you have in the fridge. It was delicious and took very little prep time! Throw all the ingredients in the crock pot, go about your business, and come back to a succulent Korean-flavored pork belly dinner!  

Ingredients:
3 pounds fresh pork belly
1 medium onion
1 cup Sempio bulgogi sauce

Optional Ingredients:
1 or 2 scallions, roughly cut
3 - 5 garlic cloves
1/2-inch long ginger piece, thinly sliced
sesame seeds to garnish

Cut the pork belly into about 3/4-inch pieces.

Heat a pan hot with a tablespoon of oil. Add the pork belly pieces in a single layer. Brown both sides. (You can skip this process, if you want.)

Place the sliced onion at the bottom of the crock pot. Add the pork belly on top. Throw in the optional garlic, ginger, and/or scallions.  Cover. Turn the crock pot on high.

Cook for about 4 hours, until tender.









Next, I used the bulgogi marinade to make a quick bulgogi dish. I made it with beef, but you can also use pork or chicken. I added some fresh garlic, onions and scallions. You can add more vegetables for a healthier dish. Just use more sauce if you do. So, here's another no hassle main dish for a busy day!

Bulgogi:
1 pound thinly sliced beef rib eye or top sirloin
1/2 small onion, thinly sliced
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
6 - 7 tablespoons bulgogi sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds (optional)

Combine everything well in a bowl. Marinate the meat for at least 30 minutes. Grill or pan fry over high heat.

You can also use the marinade to make vegetable side dishes. I made stir-fried mushrooms with it. It took no time but turned out great!

Stir-fried mushrooms:
1 pound mushrooms (any fresh mushrooms), cleaned and, if necessary, cut into bite sizes
1 scallion, chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoons bulgogi marinade

Heat a pan with the oil. Add mushrooms and stir-fry for a minute or two. Add the marinade and continue to cook until the mushrooms become tender.


GIVEAWAY: This giveaway will be open until midnight (U.S. Eastern Standard time) Tuesday, October 30, 2012. Each of the 3 winners will receive a set of all the products pictured and listed below: {CLOSED}

• 2 Bulgogi sauce (불고기 소스) 
• 1 Youndoo, light (연두 순)
• 1 Youndoo (연두) 
• 1 Hangshin Soy Sauce, Stir-fry (향신간장 조림용)
• 1 Hot Chili Hangshin Soy Sauce, Stir-fry (향신간장 매콤한맛)
• 2 Seasoned Seaweed Snack (김자반)
• 1 Seasoned Soybean Paste (찐보리 쌈장)
• 2 Spicy Sauce for Stir-fried Octopus (낙지볶음 소스)

TO ENTER:

Simply leave a comment below this post telling me what Korean recipe(s) you'd like to see here at Korean Bapsang in the future. If you can't think of any, just tell me your favorite Korean dish.

BONUS ENTRIES:

Share this post through your favorite social media platform (Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, etc.) leave a comment below on where you have shared. You are allowed to enter up to 2 bonus entries.

Leave a separate comment for each entry. Each person can have 3 entries in total. Please identify yourself. Entries from "unknown" or "anonymous" will be disqualified.

This giveaway is open to USA addresses only.

Disclosure: This giveaway is sponsored by Sempio Food. All opinions expressed in this post are my own.

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Thank you so much for all your participation and support! Special thanks to Sempio for sponsoring this giveaway!

And the winners are:
1. Aaron Soo
2. Kobemiso (Sandy)
3. Wendy Nishie

Please contact me at koreanbapsang@gmail.com with your U.S. address.

 See numbered entries.