Bulgogi (불고기)

Welcome to Chaeshik, a blog featuring homestyle Korean vegetarian and vegan recipes. Chaeshik (채식) means a vegetarian diet in Korean. I love Korean food and have been a vegetarian for about five years. Being a Korean-American vegetarian is a little difficult since Koreans love their meat, but there are delicious Korean dishes featuring vegetables or that can easily be made vegetarian or vegan. 

For my first blog entry, I am posting about bulgogi (불고기), one of the more popular Korean dishes. It is a simple and hearty dish that I remember eating often growing up. It is traditionally marinated meat that is grilled and literally means "fire meat" in Korean. This version features seitan and lots of garlic. Serve with rice or romaine lettuce and wrap the seitan in the lettuce. 



Bulgogi (불고기)
serves 3-4 as a side

1 pound of seitan 
1/2 yellow onion
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of sesame oil  
1/2 tablespoon sugar or 1 teaspoon of agave 
1/2 fuji apple or asian pear, crushed (optional) 
6 cloves of garlic, minced
2 green onions
Black pepper to taste
Toasted sesame seeds for garnish

Thinly slice the seitan and chop the onion. Marinate the seitan and onion in the soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, apple or pear, and garlic in a shallow container for thirty minutes or overnight. Make sure the marinade is mixed through the seitan well. 

Heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Add the marinated seitan and onion and stir fry until the onions are soft. 

Cut the green onions into 1 inch pieces. Add the black pepper and green onions and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.