Korean Barbecue with a Twist

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Here’s a recipe for a simple family dinner, that is always a top favorite with my kids. Even though we’re a part Moroccan household, with one gluten-free daughter, we eat a lot of Asian food, not only cause we love it but also because so much of it is naturally gluten free.  I have never been to Korea so can’t make any claims to the authenticity of this dish, but I can guarantee its tastiness and kid friendliness.

Ingredients
1 pound of very thinly sliced beef–skirt steak works best  (for a family of four)*

1 head of iceberg lettuce (for a family of four; with five or more you really need two heads).

¼ cup rice vinegar

½ cup soy sauce (to make it gluten free, use Tamari sauce)

2 cloves garlic

2 T chopped ginger

2 scallions diced (half the time I don’t have scallions in the fridge and it still comes out great)

1 T honey

1 T sesame oil

Rice

Toppings of your choice

Instructions

  1. Mix all the wet ingredients together, with the ginger, garlic and scallion.
  2. Marinate the beef for 30 minutes. (I often do just 15 minutes when in a rush.)
  3. While the beef is marinating, make the rice. Sticky rice works best but if you don’t have sticky rice, it’s not big deal.
  4. Wash the lettuce and chop off the heads. Pat it dry. Each lettuce leaf will form one wrap for your beef and rice.
  5. Lay the beef out on in a shallow baking dish. Make sure it is not piled on top of each other. Put the broiler on high.
  6. Once the broiler is hot, put the beef in. It usually cooks in about 10-15 minutes since it is so thin. It has a nice crisp to it. Note: you can also BBQ it, since the recipe is after all for Korean BBQ. I find the broiler quicker overall for a fast weeknight dinner.
  7. For the toppings, this is where our Korean BBQ takes a twist. We chop up a variety of non-Korean stuff and put them in a little bowls for everyone to sprinkle on their lettuce wraps as they see fit. Here are some examples:
    – Grated carrot
    – Chopped olives
    – Shreds of dried seaweed
    – Jalapenos
    – Avocado
    Go with whatever favorites your kids have!photo-2
  8. Eat and enjoy! To eat, take the lettuce leaf, put a little rice on it, a piece of beef, a little sauce and any of the toppings, then gently fold all sides of the lettuce leaf down to eat. (I have found the lettuce doesn’t exactly roll well, but it does fold decently)!

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Lila had to be coaxed to eat more than just beef this time around.

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Notes and Modifications

*Lately, I am trying to eat vegetarian so I make this with portabella mushrooms for myself. The portabellas don’t need nearly as long to marinate as the beef though, or they become overly marinated in my opinion!

This recipe is part of a month log blog hop for Simple Family Dinners. Definitely go check out all the contributors to this effort as you are guaranteed to find some new recipes for your dinner routine. I can’t wait to find some new ones for our family!

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