Korean soba noodles and spicy sauce (bibim naengmyeon), with cucumber, tofu, sauteed eggplant, and roast pork belly

by HarveysBackupAccount

6 Comments

  1. HarveysBackupAccount

    This sauce is easily one of my favorite recipes from Maangchi’s cookbook – sweet, savory, spicy… so good. It all comes together in a food processor – no cooking for the sauce itself:

    * 1 medium Asian pear (~300 g)
    * 1 small white onion
    * 4 cloves garlic
    * 1 Tbsp chopped fresh ginger
    * 3-4 scallions
    * 1/2 c. honey
    * 1/2 c. gochukaru (Korean dried chili flakes – not super spicy)
    * 1/4 c. gochujang (Korean fermented chili paste)
    * 2 Tbsp water
    * 2 Tbsp soy sauce
    * 1.5 Tbsp sesame oil
    * 1 Tbsp vinegar (white, rice, apple cider… take your pick)
    * 1 Tbsp sugar
    * 2 tsp. kosher salt

    Chop things a bit before putting them in the food processor then blend everything until it’s (pretty) smooth.

    The pork belly is based on a recipe in *Woks of Life*, using a 3-ish lb (1.3 kg) pork belly with the skin on:

    * Put the belly skin down in a large skillet and add just enough water to come up to the top of the skin (not much at all)
    * Bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes, then remove from the pan and put skin side up on a cutting board
    * Score a square 0.5″ (1 cm) grid into the skin
    * Sprinkle the meat with coarse kosher salt on all sides, 1 tsp per pound
    * Mix the seasoning: 2 Tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine, 2 tsp table salt, 1 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp each ground cumin, fennel seed, and black pepper, and 1/4 tsp cinnamon. Spread evenly on the meat.
    * Put the meat on an oversized piece of aluminum foil on a baking sheet and fold up the foil’s edges to cover the sides of the meat completely, leaving the top exposed.
    * Pat the skin dry and sprinkle an extra 2 Tbsp of kosher salt on top. Keep it away from the aluminum foil
    * Roast at 350F until meat is 190-200F internal temperature (if it’s more than 1.5-2 inches thick, cook at 325F instead), then remove from the oven, scrape extra salt off the top, and change oven temperature to 475F
    * When the oven reaches the new temp, remove the meat from the foil and put it on a wire rack on a baking sheet and return it to the oven for 10-15 min, until the skin is blistery and crispy

  2. dhadigadu_vanasira

    this is amazing! with the sauce, how do I increase spiciness? I added more gochujang but it just ended up with a fermented taste rather than add heat.

  3. Fuzzy_Welcome8348

    Looks amazing! That spicy sauce looks delicious

  4. mrsgordon

    Beautiful! One of my absolute favorite dishes!