Korean Style Pork Belly

After craving some home-made Korean food for the past few weeks, my dream finally came true a few nights ago when I came home for the weekend from college.  My mom surprised me with my favorite meal, grilled pork belly, or in Korean, samgyeopsal.  This is commonly served as an evening meal and consists of thick, fatty slices of pork belly meat, which is quite similar to uncured bacon. Now to some of you this may seem unappetizing at first, but believe me, it is very tasty. For such a simply prepared dish, it truly is jam packed with bold flavors. This meal can be easily prepared from just about anywhere and it needs little to no preparation. You can honestly go to your local supermarket, buy a pack of fresh pork belly, and throw it on the hibachi grill without even having to worry about seasoning or marinading it.  Below you will find some photos of all the elements that helped make my Korean style pork belly meal so delicious. Enjoy!

Here's the pork belly in it's rawest state.

The pork belly on the hibachi grill

The finished product...yum

However, this pork belly is missing one important element in order for it to be complete...the sauce.

Korean bean paste, known as Dang Gang

This sauce consists of a sesame seed oil, salt, and black pepper.

Now that you have the sauces, here's a few other things you can include in your meal.

Cucumber pickled in soy sauce

Fresh lettuce and rice is a perfect compliment for pork belly

If you would love to make this at your home, below you'll find the directions and any ingredients needed.

Pork Belly 

• Cut into small squares
• Don't worry about seasoning
• Be sure to defrost before cooking

Sesame Sauce

• 1 teaspoon of sesame seed oil
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• A pinch of ground black pepper

Dang Jang

• Any Korean dang jang bean paste will suffice

Pickled Cucumber

• Fresh cucumber slices
• Soy Sauce
• Sesame seeds
• To make this, you need to marinade the cucumber's in soy sauce for a few days, preferable a week to get the perfect texture and crunch

Rice

• Preferably sticky, japanese style rice

Last but not least, fresh cut lettuce

Good luck and thanks for reading!