Spicy Korean Pork Ribs. It's known as Dwaeji Galbijjim in Korean. Pork ribs are slowly boiled and reduced in a savory blend of Korean spices - until the meat easily pulls off the bones. Absolutely one of my favorite ways to eat ribs! This is a perfect weekend dish to drop at the center of the dinner table. Simply pair it with a bowl of hot rice and some veggie banchans on the side. However, do expect a silent dinner... everyone will have their faces buried in the ribs hah!
Now, the key to this dish is patience! If you take a sip of the broth - while it's reducing - you may feel like "something" is missing. But reserve your judgement and let the broth reduce by 90% - or until it turns into the consistency of curry. Then, the flavor will taste just right! The heat from the gochugaru will be rounded out by the slightly tart sweetness from the maesil, honey and pear juice. I love this specific recipe because its not overly sweet. Often times, restaurants and homecooks will add too much sugar. That's a no-no!
Cooking notes:
- The sweet potatoes and carrots a nice addition to the dish. Add them if you got it!
- If you don't have maesil, skip it. Instead, increase the amount of honey from 2T to 3T
- Instead of pear juice, you can also substitute with apple or pineapple juice.
- Serving size: For 2 people, use 1 kg (~2 pounds) of ribs. For 3 people, go with 1.5 kg (~3 pounds).
Alrighty, enjoy Nei'bors! I hope these Spicy Korean Pork Ribs get your endorphins running during this cold winter. Burrr ☃️ 🏃♂️😝
NOTE: In the YouTube video below, I made an editing mistake! I cut out the part where I added 5 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce to the spicy marinade. So make sure to add Soy Sauce to your marinade. I've corrected this in the written recipe below.
Spicy Gochugaru Pork Ribs (Dwaeji GalbiJjim)
Ingredients
- Baby Back Pork Ribs - 1kg ~2 lbs
- Water - 5 cups
- Mirim - ⅓ cup
Broth Ingredients
- Onion - ½ whole
- Spring Onions - 1 piece size of your forearm
- Bay Leaves - 2 optional
- Whole Black Pepper - 20 seeds
Stew Ingredients (Optional)
- Sweet Potato - 1 whole
- Carrot - small piece length of your forearm
- Cheongyang Chili Peppers - 2 peppers or use ½ a Jalapeno
- Korean Rice Cake - small handful
Spicy Marinade
- Gochugaru - 5 Tablespoons
- Soy Sauce - 5 Tablespoons Don't forget!!
- Minced Garlic - 2 Tablespoons
- Maesil - 1 Tablespoon optional
- Sesame Oil - 1 Tablespoon
- Honey - 2 Tablespoons
- Mirim - 1 Tablespoon
- Pear juice - 2 Tablespoons can use pineapple or apple juice too
- Salt - few shakes
- Black pepper - few shakes
Instructions
Make Broth
- Soak your pork ribs for 1-2 hours in cold water. This will get blood and debris out of the meat. After soaking, drain and rinse the ribs under cold water. Set aside.
- Cut an onion in half - we'll use only a ½. Cut spring onion into forearm-sized piece. Set aside 20 pieces of whole black pepper. If you have a cheese cloth or tea bag, place the black peppers into there. Makes it easier to pick out later.
- Add the pork ribs into a large pot or a wok. Then add Water (5 cups) and Mirim (⅓ cup) into the pot. Next, add in your Onion (½), Spring Onion piece, Bay Leaves (2), and Black Peppers (20) into the pot.
- Put the pot on high heat and bring up to a boil. Once it comes to boil, place a lid-on and reduce the heat to a medium-high heat. Set a timer for 20 minutes. In the meanwhile, chop-up your stew ingredients.
Chop-up stew ingredients
- Peel and dice your sweet potato into small chunks.
- Peel and dice your carrot into small chunks.
- Dice the green chili pepper into small pieces
- Separate your rice cakes from each other. Set aside.
Make Spicy Marinade
- Mix Gochugaru (5T), Soy Sauce (5T), Minced Garlic (2T), Maesil (1T), Sesame Oil (1T), Honey (2T), Mirim (1T), Pear Juice (2T), Salt (few shakes) and Black Pepper (few shakes)
Back to The Ribs
- After the initial 20 minutes of boiling, pick out the spring onion, onion, black peppers and bay leaves from the broth.
- Now, place the Sweet Potato, Carrot, Chili Peppers into your broth.
- Add in the Spicy Marinade - all of it! Place the lid back on.
- Set a timer for 25 minutes - boil on medium heat. (10 minutes in, open the lid. Skim the top of the broth with a ladle and get rid of the scum)
- After 25 minutes, open the lid and take a look at your ribs. If there is still a good amount of broth leftover, you need to boil for longer. (We needed an additional 10 minutes!)
- Once there's just a little bit of broth leftover, throw in your rice cakes. The rice cakes need roughly 2 minutes to cook through.
- After the broth has fully reduced to about 90%, it should have the consistency of a curry or spaghetti sauce. Turn off the heat - you're done!
- Plate your ribs and drizzle the leftover "curry" over your ribs.
- Garnish with sesame seeds and serve with a bowl of hot rice!
- Bon Appetit!
Notes
- You can substitute pear juice with apple or pineapple juice as well
- See video below for more details
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