Boiled pork with fresh kimchi and vegetable (bossam)

Bossam is a traditional Korean dish, usually made with pork shoulder or belly. Boiled in spices, then thinly sliced, the pork is served with kimchi, sliced raw garlic, chilli, vegetables and sauces made from soybean paste and salted shrimp. The name bossam refers to how the meat is eaten, wrapped in a salted cabbage leaf or lettuce leaves as I have done here.

Credit: Juzzy Kane

• serves

  4

• prep

  45 minutes

• cook

  1 hour

• difficulty

  Mid

Stream free On Demand

Rachel's Bossam

episode • Bring A Plate • 

cooking • 

6m

G

episode • Bring A Plate • 

cooking • 

6m

G

Ingredients

Kimchi

• 750 ml (3 cups) warm water
• 315 g (1 cup) coarse salt
• 1 Chinese cabbage (wombok), quartered lengthways, core trimmed, leaves cut into bite -size pieces
• 1 carrot, coarsely grated
• 1 radish, coarsely grated
• 1 ½ tbsp sugar
• 95 g (½ cup) cooked rice
• 1 onion
• 10 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cm piece ginger
• 100 ml fish sauce
• 120 g (1 cup) gochugaru (Korean dried chilli)
• 4 spring onions, finely shredded
• 1 tsp sesame seeds

Pork

• ½ onion
• 3 cm piece ginger, sliced
• 8 garlic cloves
• 3 spring onions, white part only
• 1 tsp doenjang (fermented soybean paste)
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 1 kg piece pork belly, about 7 cm – 8 cm thick
• 1 tsp salt
• 250 ml (1 cup) soju (distilled Korean alcohol)

Shrimp sauce

• 2 tsp sauejeot (salted shrimp sauce)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp gochugaru (Korean dried chilli)
• 1 spring onion, thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 40 ml white wine
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds

To serve

• Lettuce leaves, perilla leaves, sliced garlic and chilli and ssamjang (soybean dipping sauce)

Standing time: 2 hr

Instructions

1. To prepare the kimchi, place the warm water and salt in a large bowl and stir until the salt has dissolved. Add the wombok, carrot, radish and sugar and stir to combine well. Stand for 2 hours, stirring occasionally, then drain well. Rinse the mixture in cold water 3 times to clean it thoroughly, then drain again, return to the bowl and set aside.
   
2. Place the rice, onion, garlic, ginger, fish sauce and gochugaru into a blender and process until smooth and well combined. Add to the cabbage, carrot and radish mixture and use your hands to combine well (disposable gloves are helpful here). Add the spring onion and sesame seeds, combine well, then set the kimchi aside until ready to serve.
   
3. Meanwhile, to prepare the pork, place 1 litre of water in a large saucepan. Add the onion, ginger, garlic, spring onion, doenjang and black pepper and bring to the over high heat.
   
4. Add the pork and salt to the boiling water and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the soju, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes. Using a pair of tongs, turn the pork over, reduce the heat to low and simmer for another 15 minutes. Remove the pork from the cooking liquid and stand to cool for about 10 minutes.
   
5. To prepare the shrimp sauce, place all the ingredients except the sesame oil and sesame seeds in a bowl and stir to combine well. Just before serving, stir in the sesame oil and sesame seeds.
   
6. To serve, thinly slice the pork and arrange on a large platter with the kimchi, lettuce, perilla leaves, sliced garlic and chilli, along with the shrimp sauce and ssamjang. To eat, place a little of everything in a lettuce leaf and enjoy!
   

Note

• Doenjang, soju, gochugaru, saeujeot and ssamjang are all readily available at Asian grocers. 

Photography by Juzzy Kane @juzzykane. Styling by Nidhi Sampat @coco_and_chili.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Stream free On Demand

Rachel's Bossam

episode • Bring A Plate • 

cooking • 

6m

G

episode • Bring A Plate • 

cooking • 

6m

G