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Spicy Pork Duruchigi. It's a favorite lunch menu item for many office workers and taxi drivers in Korea. But for some reason, it's very hard to find dish in Seoul. It's not on the menus at posh restaurants or tourist-friendly areas. Rather, you need to find your way through back alleys and pop into hole-in-the-wall restaurants. But the detour is worth it. Duruchigi is wickedly good 😈- even the leftovers! It's cooked differently than bulgogi - you don't grill it for a crispy surface. Instead, you stir-fry it first, then pour in water and reduce it like a stew. The result is a saucy, almost curry-like, meat than you can spread over a bowl of hot rice! It's simple, delicious and comforting 🤠

As mentioned, this meat dish is all about the sauce! As such, you need to get some rice cooking in the background. Go do that now so you don't forget.

For the ingredients, I recommend using thin cuts of pork. At Korean markets, you can ask for dweji-gogi-bulgogi-yong (돼지불고기용) which translates to pork cut for bulgogi. If you don't have a Korean mart, visit an Asian mart and look for shabu-shabu pork. That cut is even thinner and works great for this dish!

For the marinade, we will be including Maesil (Korean Plum Extract). If you haven't bought a bottle from Gochujar yet, consider purchasing one now! We will continue to use it in our recipes - especially meat dishes - to add a full-body sweetness to spicy or salty marinades.

Cooking notes:

As the broth is coming up to boil, use your chopsticks to separate the thin meat pieces from each other. Don't forget to do this or they will fuse into one piece - no meatballs here!
Don't forget to add-in the remaining ⅓ of the spicy sauce after reducing it for 15 minutes.
Be patient - wait until most of the liquid has evaporated out before serving (that's when the meat pieces starts tasting really good!)
Save the leftovers and throw it into a breakfast omelette with cheese! So goooood!

Spicy Pork Duruchigi

5 from 3 votes

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Ingredients

Pork Slices

600 grams Thinly Sliced Pork
1 whole Onion
1 stalk Spring Onion

Spicy Duruchigi Marinade

4 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce
3 Tablespoons of Gochugaru
1.5 Tablespoons of Gochujang
1 Tablespoon of Sugar
2 Tablespoons of Honey
2 Tablespoons Maesil
2 Tablespoons Mirim (Rice Wine)
1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic
1 teaspoon (!) Minced Ginger
7-8 shakes Black Pepper

Additional Ingredients

¾ cup Water (For Broth)
1 Tablespoon of Sesame Oil (To finish the disH)

Instructions

Prep Ingredients

Set aside 600 grams of the thinly sliced pork. Leave them out to thaw if they're frozen - then un-curl each piece if they came curled.
Cut onion into thin strips. Cut spring onion stalk into thin pieces.
Make Spicy Marinade sauce: Mix Soy Sauce (4 Tablespoons), Gochugaru (3 Tablespoons), Gochujang (1.5 Tablespoon), Sugar (1 Tablespoon), Honey (2 Tablespoons), Maesil (2 Tablespoons), Mirim (2 Tablespoons), Minced Garlic (1 Tablespoon), Minced Ginger (1 teaspoon!), Black Pepper (7-8 shakes)

Make Duruchigi

Place the pork slices into a big wok or a large pot. Then add-in the diced onion and spring onion pieces on top.
Pour-in about ⅔ of the spicy marinade over the ingredients. Then add-in ¾ cup of water. Place the wok on a medium-high heat and bring it up to a boil. (Use a soup ladle and spread the marinade around so it mixes evenly with the water. Also, use your chopsticks to split the pork pieces from each other so that way they don't fuse into one piece).
Once the stew is boiling, reduce the heat to a medium (don't forget!). Set a timer for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, you'll notice that 75%-80% of the broth has evaporated away. Add the rest of your spicy marinade in. (Note, you don't have to wait exactly until 15 minutes - if you see that 75% of the broth has evaporated, add-in the rest of the sauce then)
After you add the remaining ⅓ of the spicy marinade, let the mixture reduce for another 2 minutes. We want to reduce it until you see a very small layer of broth left in the pot (reference video).
After 2 minutes, turn the heat off. Finish by adding-in Sesame Oil (1 Tablespoon). Give it one final stir.
Plate the dish and garnish with a few shakes of Sesame Seeds. Serve with a bowl of hot rice. Say Bon Appetit and dig in!