WeekTable
Menu
Plan my week
AI-generated photograph: Dark, glossy strips of caramelised beef on short-grain rice in a celadon green bowl, pale cucumber rounds and orange carrot matchsticks beside it, sesame seeds and spring onion on top

Home · Recipes · Korean beef bulgogi bowls

East and South East Asian · Dinner

Korean beef bulgogi bowls

pear and garlic marinade · seared beef · crunchy quick pickle

AI-generated photograph

Thin slices of steak soaked in a sweet pear, garlic and sesame marinade, seared fast in a very hot pan and piled on sticky rice with crunchy pickled cucumber and carrot.

Contains: soya and sesame, as written. Soya (tamari) and sesame (sesame oil and seeds). Use a tamari labelled gluten free to keep the dish gluten free.

Ingredients

  • 500g sirloin or rump steak, fat trimmed off
  • 1 small ripe pear (about 150g), peeled and grated
  • 4 tablespoons tamari, labelled gluten free
  • 1 tablespoon light brown soft sugar
  • 3 garlic cloves, grated
  • 15g ginger, peeled and grated
  • 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
  • 300g sushi rice (short-grain rice, which cooks soft and a little sticky)
  • 1 cucumber
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • Half a teaspoon salt
  • 2 carrots, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 4 spring onions, cut into 3cm lengths
  • 2 teaspoons sesame seeds

Plan a week with East and South East Asian dishes

Let's cook

  1. Put the steak in the freezer for 20 minutes while you get everything else ready; firmer meat is much easier to slice thinly. Then cut it across the lines of the meat into slices about 3mm thick.
  2. Make the marinade. In a bowl, mix the grated pear, tamari, sugar, garlic, ginger and sesame oil. Add the beef, turn it to coat and leave for at least 15 minutes. The pear helps make the meat tender.
  3. Cook the rice. Rinse it in a sieve until the water runs almost clear. Put it in a pan with 360ml cold water, bring to the boil, cover, turn the heat to its lowest and cook for 12 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave it covered for 10 minutes.
  4. Make the quick pickle. Slice the cucumber into thin rounds and put them in a bowl with the carrot, rice vinegar and salt. Toss and leave to stand until you serve.
  5. Heat a large frying pan or wok on the highest heat until it is smoking, then add half the vegetable oil. Lift half the beef out of the marinade, letting the extra drip off, and spread it out in the pan. Leave it for 1 minute to brown, then turn and cook for 1 to 2 minutes more until cooked through and caramelised at the edges.
  6. Tip the first batch onto a plate and cook the second batch the same way with the rest of the oil. Cooking in two batches keeps the pan hot so the meat browns instead of stewing.
  7. Put all the beef back in the pan with the spring onions and any marinade left in the bowl. Let it bubble for 1 minute, stirring, until the onions soften and the sauce is sticky.
  8. Spoon the rice into bowls. Top with the beef, drain the pickle and pile it alongside, then scatter over the sesame seeds.

Tips

  • Slicing across the lines (the grain) of the meat cuts the long fibres short, so every slice is tender.
  • Make sure the pan is really hot before the beef goes in, and do not crowd it.
  • Cool any leftover rice quickly and keep it in the fridge for 1 day at most. Reheat it until steaming hot.

Swaps

  • Cheaper: use 500g pork shoulder steaks, sliced thinly, and cook until no pink remains.
  • Some heat for adults: stir a little gochujang (Korean chilli paste) into your own bowl; most contain wheat, so the dish is then not gluten free.
  • No pear: use a peeled, grated apple.

More in the East Asian meal plan

Our own recipe. The photograph is AI-generated.

From the same kitchen

What goes with it.

The East Asian meal plan