We have a little more time on our hands today and are forced to stay indoors due to the smog 🌫…so we decided to spend it in the kitchen! We made this tasty spicy pulled pork shoulder with korean 🇰🇷flavours on the #InstantPot and served with some pickled cucumbers🥒, kimchi🥬🌶, and white rice🍚. The leftovers are even tastier 😋.
Ingredients
For The Pork
5 garlic cloves, grated on a Microplane or minced
1 tablespoons brown sugar or honey
1/2 tablespoon Korean chile flakes (gochugaru) or other chile flakes (Maras, Aleppo or crushed red pepper)
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt, more to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2.5 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into two or three pieces
For The Sauce
1/2 tablespoon peanut oil
4 garlic cloves, grated on a Microplane
1 tablespoons grated fresh ginger root
3 tbspns gochujang (Korean chile paste) or other chile paste or sauce such as Sriracha
2 tbspns cup soy sauce
1 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoons mirin
1 tablespoons honey
1/2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Asian fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
For The Sesame Pickled Cucumbers
3 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced (or about 2 cups sliced cucumbers)
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 tbspns thinly sliced red onion
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
For Serving
Cooked rice
Kimchi
Instructions
- To prepare pork, combine garlic, brown sugar, chile flakes, salt and pepper. Rub marinade all over pork. If you have time, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour to up to 24 hours. Otherwise, proceed with recipe.
- Set Instantpot or a pressure cooker to sauté (or use a large skillet). Add pork in batches and sear until browned all over, about 2 minutes per side. Add 6 tbpns of water to pot (or to skillet to deglaze, then move to pot), cover, and set to cook for 90 minutes on high pressure.
- While pork cooks, prepare sauce: In a small pot, warm peanut oil over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger, and sauté until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer. Cook until thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Set sauce aside. (It can be made up to 1 week ahead and stored in the refrigerator.)
- Manually release steam. Let pork cool until you can handle it, then shred it into bite-size pieces. Pork can be made to this point up to 3 days ahead.
- While pork cools, strain liquid from bottom of pot. Pour off fat (or chill liquid, then scoop off solidified fat with a spoon). Reserve.
- Prepare cucumbers: In a small bowl, combine all ingredients except sesame seeds, and let sit, tossing one or twice, for at least 20 minutes. Stir in sesame seeds.
- When ready to serve, heat broiler. Toss pork with sauce and 1 to 2 tablespoons cooking liquid — just enough so pork is evenly coated but not wet or runny. Spread mixture on a rimmed baking sheet, and broil until crisped on top, 2 to 3 minutes; it will char in places, and that’s fine.
- Serve pork over rice with cucumbers and kimchi, if desired.
