Spicy Gochugaru Pork Ribs (Dwaeji GalbiJjim)

Baby back pork ribs slowly simmered in gochugaru-based marinade.

📝 Ingredients

• Baby Back Pork Ribs - 1kg (~2 lbs)
• Water - 5 cups
• Mirim - 1/3 cup
• Onion - 1/2 whole
• Spring Onions - 1 piece (size of your forearm)
• Bay Leaves - 2 (optional)
• Whole Black Pepper - 20 seeds
• Sweet Potato - 1 whole
• Carrot - small piece (length of your forearm)
• Cheongyang Chili Peppers - 2 peppers (or use 1/2 a Jalapeno)
• Korean Rice Cake - small handful
• Gochugaru - 5 Tablespoons
• Soy Sauce - 5 Tablespoons (Don't forget!!)
• Minced Garlic - 2 Tablespoons
• Maesil - 1 Tablespoon (optional)
• Sesame Oil - 1 Tablespoon
• Honey - 2 Tablespoons
• Mirim - 1 Tablespoon
• Pear juice - 2 Tablespoons (can use pineapple or apple juice too)
• Salt - few shakes
• Black pepper - few shakes

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1--- Make Broth ---
2. 2Soak your pork ribs for 1-2 hours in cold water. This will get blood and debris out of the meat. After soaking, drain and rinse the ribs under cold water. Set aside.
3. 3Cut an onion in half - we'll use only a 1/2. Cut spring onion into forearm-sized piece. Set aside 20 pieces of whole black pepper. If you have a cheese cloth or tea bag, place the black peppers into there. Makes it easier to pick out later.
4. 4Add the pork ribs into a large pot or a wok. Then add Water (5 cups) and Mirim (1/3 cup) into the pot. Next, add in your Onion (1/2), Spring Onion piece, Bay Leaves (2), and Black Peppers (20) into the pot.
5. 5Put the pot on high heat and bring up to a boil. Once it comes to boil, place a lid-on and reduce the heat to a medium-high heat. Set a timer for 20 minutes. In the meanwhile, chop-up your stew ingredients.
6. 6--- Chop-up stew ingredients ---
7. 7Peel and dice your sweet potato into small chunks.
8. 8Peel and dice your carrot into small chunks.
9. 9Dice the green chili pepper into small pieces
10. 10Separate your rice cakes from each other. Set aside.
11. 11--- Make Spicy Marinade ---
12. 12Mix Gochugaru (5T), Soy Sauce (5T), Minced Garlic (2T), Maesil (1T), Sesame Oil (1T), Honey (2T), Mirim (1T), Pear Juice (2T), Salt (few shakes) and Black Pepper (few shakes)
13. 13--- Back to The Ribs ---
14. 14After the initial 20 minutes of boiling, pick out the spring onion, onion, black peppers and bay leaves from the broth.
15. 15Now, place the Sweet Potato, Carrot, Chili Peppers into your broth.
16. 16Add in the Spicy Marinade - all of it! Place the lid back on.
17. 17Set a timer for 25 minutes - boil on medium heat. (10 minutes in, open the lid. Skim the top of the broth with a ladle and get rid of the scum)
18. 18After 25 minutes, open the lid and take a look at your ribs. If there is still a good amount of broth leftover, you need to boil for longer. (We needed an additional 10 minutes!)
19. 19Once there's just a little bit of broth leftover, throw in your rice cakes. The rice cakes need roughly 2 minutes to cook through.
20. 20After the broth has fully reduced to about 90%, it should have the consistency of a curry or spaghetti sauce. Turn off the heat - you're done!
21. 21Plate your ribs and drizzle the leftover "curry" over your ribs.
22. 22Garnish with sesame seeds and serve with a bowl of hot rice!
23. 23Bon Appetit!