Korean Sliced Rib Eye

Last night, my comfort food was a korean meal made by yours truly. Actually, I didn't do much. Hardly anything at all. The dish I was in search of is simply thinly sliced rib-eye steak that you cook on a griddle (preferably set at the table) and because the well, marbled meat is so thin, it cooks up in seconds. My grandmother used to make a scallion side dish. I always took some of the scallions seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil and black pepper. The scallion has to be cut to 2" in length and then julienned. This way you can take a nice bunch and put it on the meat and then roll it. (usually using chopsticks) Or you can take a straight piece of meat and dip it in your pile of salt, pepper and sesame oil. We never mixed all three. They stayed in separate piles. Of course by the time you're done eating, all the seasonings have melded together.

We bought two different kind of kimchis. Kimchi is a staple in the korean diet. Koreans cannot eat meals without some form of it. I bought one made from cucumbers and one from napa cabbage. The one made from cabbage is the main kimchi and the others (roots, leaves, any veggie) can be made into kimchi using red pepper powder, some shrimp sauce, garlic and a couple of other things. Kimchi is potent. If not sealed properly, it will (without a doubt) cause your refrigerator to stink like garlic and something like tabasco or other hot sauce.

I served a bowl of jasmine rice with it. I would've preferred japanese or korean sticky rice but we didn't have any. So that was dinner last night. The meat was delicious. Absolutely delicious with the sesame oil, salt & pepper. The combination is so simple but oh so good with the meat. Oh, I didn't like the cucumber kimchi. It had too much of a fishy flavor as some kimchis do. I like the kind that is nicely fermented with a little vinegary flavor. And the right amount of salt.

So, a meal like this was common in my household while I was growing up. Of course, my grandmother would also prepare lots of side dishes like soups, stews, little fried yummy things and just a whole lot of stuff. It's not uncommon for korean food to be served with many side dishes. They're called banchan (I don't think I spelled that correctly.) If you ever try korean food, definitely go to a korean barbecue restaurant. Nicely marinated meat (suggesting kalbi - rib meat) comes to your table raw and you cook it to your liking on your barbecue grill that's built into the table. Prepare to smell like barbecued meat after the meal. Eat Something Good!