Boiled Pork Belly With Tofu And Kimchi Wrap (Korean Tofu Bossam)

I've been watching Korean Drama's "Let's Eat" on Netflix and my cravings for Korean cuisines have come flooding back haha. Today's menu is "Tofu Bossam". There are quite many recipes out there but I've decided to go super simple today by just using whatever I have left in the fridge to save the hassle of going to local market to buy more ingredients.

1/ Kimchi

I personally love fresh nappa cabbage kimchi (geotjeori) so I'm making this for my bossam today. My mom bought these really cute mini nappa cabbages few days ago and I thought these would make really good geotjeori! Everything was completely eye-measuring but I will try to estimate the ingredients at the bottom of this post. For kimchi paste, I used: shredded carrots, apple puree, diced spring onions, garlic, fish sauce (duh) and of course, Korean chili powder. Nappa cabbages were sliced in half length-wise and I soaked them in salty water for about 1.5 hours, then I rinsed them well before massaging them with kimchi paste. In the end I added some white vinegar and sugar for some extra umami. I "marinated" this nappa cabbage for about 2 hours before serving. Other variations for bossam: traditional fermented kimchi + lettuce or nappa cabbage wraps; fresh white radish kimchi + nappa cabbage wraps

2/ Boiled pork belly

Hmmm so the original recipes use quite many ingredients to cook their pork belly: white onions, spring onions, radish, soybean paste, some variations even include some other special powder in their broth... I happen to have a piece of carrot left in my fridge today so I'm just making it simple with: a carrot chuck, half of a medium white onion, and a spoonful of soybean paste.

I only boiled my pork belly for about 30 minutes, hence it wasn't as soft as I'd like. If you like your pork really tender, I'd suggest cooking it for longer - maybe an hour or more on the stove or in crockpot. (I tried cooking it for 2 hours before and it was way too soft for my liking, so you should be careful on this and keep checking your meat)

3/ Korean dipping sauce (ssamjang)

This is a total must have for a well-combined umami flavor. I saved my own hassle of making these by purchasing a premade ssamjang, but if you don't have this you can still quickly make this by combining: Korean hot pepper paste, soybean paste, honey, diced spring onions + garlic + white onions + sesame oil.

4/ Other "Toppings"

Adding some pieces of raw garlic and fresh, spicy red chili is a complete game changer! This is Tofu Bossam so you will need white tofu too.

5/ Assemble and devour

This is best served with hot, freshly cooked white rice. Pork belly boiled with soybean paste makes it so sweet and full of flavor, while pairing with soft, creamy tofu along with crunchy geotjeori, aromatic garlic and spicy fresh chili - oh I think I'm having a foodgasm right there!

Urg I can already feel my mouth drooling as I'm writing this haha. I will eat this again for tonight's dinner!

Ingredients (estimation)

For fresh kimchi (geotjeori)

• ~ 300gr nappa cabbage - soaked in salty water for 1.5 hrs then rinse well

• Kimchi paste: 1/4c shredded carrots + 2 tbs diced spring onions + 2 tsp minced garlic + 1/3c apple puree + 2 tbs fish sauce + 2 tsp sugar + 1/2 tbs white vinegar

• "Marinate" salted + rinsed nappa cabbage with kimchi paste for about 2 hours before serving

For boiled pork belly

• 250-300gr pork belly

• 1 big spoonful of soybean paste

• Half of medium white onion

• A small carrot chunk

• Cook for ~1 hour or more depends on preferred tenderness

Others

• 1 block of white tofu

• Ssamjang

• Raw garlic and fresh red chili, to taste