Kalbi, sometimes also pronounced as Galbi, is a Korean dish made with thin, cross-cut beef short ribs, marinated in soy sauce and sweet rice wine and then grilled to perfection. It’s an absolute winner at parties. I haven’t met a person yet, except, of course, vegetarians, who wouldn’t fall in love with these ribs.
If you haven’t tried them yet, you absolutely have to do it ASAP. I promise you’ll get hooked on them for their aroma only, just like I did when I tried them first time at our friends’, Elisa and Justin. Elisa, who was born in Korea and love Korean food, cook them quite often. Several years ago her sister Eleanor showed me how to make the marinade and ever since these ribs are an often treat on our table, especially in the summer, when grilling is easy and fun.
I didn’t have a chance to write down the precise recipe and Eleanor didn’t use any measuring cups or spoons. You know how it goes with things you’ve been cooking for a long time - a bit of this, a tad of that and so forth. So I just put down the list of ingredients and adjusted their amounts to my taste.
You will need:
- About 2- 2.5 lb sliced beef short ribs
- ½ cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/3 cup rice wine like Xiaoxing (Shaoxing) or mirin
- 3 medium garlic cloves, minced
- 3-4 green onions, white and green parts thinly sliced
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- A pinch of hot chili pepper flakes, preferably Korean style (finer grind than regular flakes)
- ½ small Asian pear, cored and finely grated, or 1 tsp brown sugar (you can also take rice syrup instead)
Combine all the ingredients for the marinade.
If the beef rib slices are too thick, pound them lightly with a meat tenderizer.
Pour the marinade over the ribs, making sure that each rib is well coated, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 3 hours. To my taste there is no need to marinade longer, but if you prefer to do it overnight, cut down the amount of the marinade ingredients (especially soy sauce) or the ribs may turn out too salty.
Preheat the grill to very hot and quickly grill the ribs on both sides. Serve right away.
Traditionally, you would cut the meat off the bones and slice it in several pieces, which then can be wrapped in a lettuce leaf and topped with spicy Gochujang-based sauce. But you can also eat them just like any regular grilled meat, with a knife and fork.
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