Bo Ssam – Simple Boil

보쌈 (bo-ssam) Bo Ssam is a great way to enjoy kimchi and pork belly. The bite sized wraps make an excellent appetizer, banchan like dish, or drinking snack (anju). This recipe is for one of the simplest bo-ssam preparations.

Servings: 8

Ingredients

Boil

1 pound Pork Belly

1 ounce fresh ginger

8 cups Water

Wraps

12 or more whole leaves Napa Cabbage

8 cloves fresh raw garlic

Shredded “kimchi seasoned” Korean radish

Kimchi Seasoned Radish

6 ounces Korean radish (daikon)

3 teaspoons Salt

1 tablespoon coarse ground red chile pepper

1 tablespoon fine ground red chile pepper

3 cloves garlic

1 small green onion

1 ounce Korean chives

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon fish sauce

Optional

1/4 cup Ssamjang

Procedure

Preparation

Pork Belly

Wash ginger and cut into about 1/8 inch thick slices.

Bring water to a full boil in a medium pot over high heat.

Add pork belly and ginger slices, reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook for about 1 hour.

Remove pork belly from pot and let cool until easily handled.

Slice pork belly in thirds lengthwise, then cut each third into roughly 1/4 inch thick slices.

Discard boil water and ginger slices.

Seasoned Radish

Shred the radish in medium shreds and place in a mixing bowl.

Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of the salt over the shredded radish, mix well, and let stand for 15 minutes.

Fine chop the green onion and chives.

Crush and mince the garlic.

Mix the remaining salt, minced garlic, chopped onion and chives, ground chili pepper, sugar, and fish sauce together in a separate bowl and let stand for 15 minutes.

Rinse the shredded radish in cold water and drain.

Mix the seasoning and shredded radish together and let stand for 1/2 hour.

Prepare wraps

Bring a clean pot of water to a full boil over high heat.

Hold cabbage by the green or “leafy” portion and dip the thicker stem end into the boiling water for about 1 minute, them immerse the rest of the leaves for another thirty seconds to one minute.

Remove the cabbage from the pot and rinse immediately in cold water.

Hand tear larger leaves in half or thirds lengthwise.

Final

Place one piece of pork belly on one end of a strip of cabbage, top with seasoned radish, and roll.

Repeat for each piece of pork belly.

(You can secure the wraps with toothpicks – make sure they can be seen though – no accidents please)

Serve at room temperature as part of a Korean meal, as a drinking snack, or as an appetiser.