Those of you on campus may understand my feelings of being tired of campus food. The food is good, but another meal of pizza or chicken strips isn’t really enough to excite me. On top of that, my wallet can only take so many days of Panda Express and Subway in the CUB.

Setting out for a solution, I went to the one place that I knew would help … TikTok.

TikTok is home to thousands of chefs and food-focused creators, and I can’t get enough. After scrolling through the app and procrastinating on my homework for longer than I wanted, I came across a recipe from Min.gu.kim for Spicy Korean Pork. After getting the thumbs-up from one of my friends who loves to cook Korean food, I set out to replicate the recipe. 

The end result was absolutely delicious! It was the first time in a while that I had cooked, and the effort and time put in was certainly worth it. If nothing else, the smell that wafted through the apartment as the pork was cooking made me even more hungry.

I adjusted some of the numbers and cook time to fit from the original recipe, but it is largely the same. This was a delicious meal that is sure to be a fan favorite for yourself or whoever you make it for.

Hope you enjoy it!

Serves 2-4 

INGREDIENTS

• 600-1000 grams of pork belly 
  • Most grocery stores sell pork belly in this range
  • Can sub out for any meat or non-meat replacement 
• One whole white onion
• Vegetables (optional) 
• Three to six green onions
• 2.5 tablespoons of gochujang 
  • Make sure to buy the one based on your spice tolerance!
• 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1.5 tablespoons white sugar
• 1.5 tablespoons honey
• Two to three garlic cloves
• Measuring spoons
• Cutting board and knife
• Large pan
• Mixing bowl

INSTRUCTIONS

Prep Time: 10-20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

1. Cutting the onion

• Peel the onion and cut it directly in half. 
• Take both halves and cut the root end from each side.
• Placing the flat side on your cutting board with one cut root facing you. Cut vertically long stripes.
• These don’t need to be uniform and thickness is entirely on preference.

2. Cutting the pork belly

• Cut the large block of pork belly into smaller chunks to make it easier to work with.
• Cut the pork belly into small bite-size rectangular pieces.
• Again, don’t worry about uniformity as without a sharp knife and good knife skills, pork belly likes to slide away from your cuts.
• Also don’t worry about the fat to meat ratio. Pork belly is notoriously fatty but the fat crisps up very nicely.

3. Cooking the meat and onions

• Heat a pan on high for a few minutes.
• Put the pork into the pan, making sure that each piece is touching some part of the pan.
• After 5 minutes, flip the pork belly to the other side then add the onions.
• A few flicks of the wrist with your pan in hand will help incorporate them together. It takes a bit of practice but really channels your inner chef by doing so.

4. Making the Sauce

• Finely mince two cloves of garlic, though I went up to four for preference. 
• Combine the gochujang, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, honey and garlic into a mixing bowl.
• Mix the ingredients together. I would recommend using a fork as you can mix quickly and get a good grip on it.
• Taste your sauce! Adjust ingredients or portion based off your preference.

5. Bringing it all together 

• Add sauce to the pork and onions.
• Incorporate sauce so that there are no bald spots. 
• Plate up. 
• Goes great with rice and soju.

Enjoy!