This recipe is authentic & comes from my favorite Korean! The first time my girls & I went to her house, she made this amazing dish. Her grandmother taught her & she taught me. How awesome is that??! It’s so good that my family requests it on a regular basis.
If you have access to a Korean grocery store, you can find this product. It comes in different styles & different spice levels, but this one is the best (said the white girl). The Asian grocery store in my area is large & intimidating, so I get my Ottogi Curry from good ol’ Amazon. The instructions are simple and are listed in English in super small print on the back of the envelope, but it doesn’t explain the technique.
You can actually use chicken, pork or beef, but we always use pork. In fact, I use pork steaks. Have you ever had a pork steak? They’re super juicy & tender. And they’re WAAAY more flavorful than a chop, IMHO. Where I live there’s this amazing place called The Pork Shop. It’s the freshest pork I’ve ever had. We are super blessed because my delightful Mother In Law will pick up a half hog for us about every 6 months. Yep. A HALF HOG. Ohhh the bacon!!! I digress…
So Korean Pork Curry is just a pork stew with this crazy fantastic flavor. Start by dicing the onion really well. Add it to hot oil in a dutch oven. Then remove the bones from the steaks, dice the pork, and add it to the onion. While this is browning up in the pot, chop the other veggies. I used 4 red potatoes (peeled), 4 carrots, & 3 1/2 stalks of celery. The key here is to dice everything into little bite sized chunks. This is so cooking is quicker & the pieces are perfect for devouring.
Once the pork is evenly browned, add the chopped veggies to the pot. Cover with water just until everything is submerged. Because my batch was so large, I used 6 cups of water. Add the lid. Once it starts boiling, turn the heat to simmer for about 15 minutes. (Right here is where I added the rice to the Instant Pot to cook).
Test a bite of pork & a potato to make sure everything is cooked through. Now you can add the curry to the pot. Open the envelope & sprinkle a little curry evenly over the whole pot. Using a wooden spoon, mix it in thoroughly. Do this several times, stirring after each addition, until desired flavor has been reached. When I first started making this, I used the picture on the envelope as a guide. When my sauce was the same color as the sauce in the picture, I knew it was done. You can adjust the spice level with the amount of powder that’s mixed in. Also, the more you add, the thicker it gets. So to make a gravy-like consistency for this batch, I used 1.25 envelopes. It was PERFECT. So so so good! And it makes the BEST leftovers. Thank you, Mi, for this awesome recipe! <3
Korean Pork Curry
Ingredients
- 2 pork steaks
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- 1/2 large onion yellow or white
- 4 red potatoes peeled
- 4 carrots
- 3-4 celery stocks
- Water to cover pork & vegetables
- 1-2 envelopes Ottogi curry powder 3.2oz
- Cooked brown or white rice for serving
Instructions
- Dice all the vegetables. Heat the oil in a dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add the onion. Remove the bones from the steaks & dice the pork into bite sized pieces. Add the pork to the onion in the pot & brown it evenly. Add the remaining vegetables to the pot. Add enough water to completely submerge the contents of the pot. Cover. Bring to a boil, then simmer 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle a small amount of curry powder over the ingredients, stir until all powder has been incorporated. Do this several more times, mixing thoroughly after each addition, until the whole envelope has been added to the pot. Serve over brown rice and devour.
