Instant Pot Korean Brisket Bowls
Until I moved to Chicago I was unfamiliar with Korean BBQ, and the dishes associated with 
the cuisine peeked my interest. One of the most talked about restaurants is Cho Sun OK, in my favorite Lincoln Square neighborhood, where on a weekend the lines run outside filled with those on a quest to snag a coveted table at which to cook your own bbq, tabletop. If you manage to get in, but cooking your own is not your thing, then try the BiBimBap bowls filled with steamed rice mixed with beef, assorted vegetables, fried egg and side of hot sauce, instead.
You can definitely pull off delicious Korean dishes at home and as the summer heat intensifies, you may find me grill-side in my back yard using Gochuiang, a Korean hot pepper paste made with fermented soybeans as a marinade on some beef strips, but equally I love to throw it into the Instant Pot or slow cooker with a piece of brisket which I don’t have to attend to.
This Korean chili braised brisket involves tenderizing the meat in a soy and gochujang braising liquid, which can be pulled apart after it has rested. Adding a fresh and flavorful side salad with a citrus sesame dressing and crunchy peanuts makes it a moreish mouthful.
- 2 lbs brisket, cut into large chunks
- 1 cup / 1 medium onion, cut into large pieces
- 4 cloves / 2 tsp garlic, chopped
- 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp soy
- 2 tbsp gochujang paste
- 1 tbsp light brown sugar
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups beansprouts
- 2 carrots, shaved or shredded
- 1/3 cup fresh mint, chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 red chilli, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp lime juice
- heat oil on medium sauté function in the Instant Pot until hot and add the brisket
- brown to meat for 3-4 minutes, turning once
- add 1 medium onion and stir
- turn off the sauté function stir in the garlic, rice wine vinegar, gochujang paste, sugar, and water
- secure Instant Pot lid and set pressure valve to Sealing
- cook on Manual / Pressure Cook for 90 minutes
- at the end of cooking, leave to Natural Pressure Release for 10 minutes
- remove the lid and take out the meat, pull apart and stir back into the sauce
- serve with kimchi and rice or our optional side salad
- heat oil on medium sauté function in the Instant Pot, or in a sauté pan, until hot and add the brisket
- brown to meat for 3-4 minutes, turning once
- add 1 medium onion and stir and sauté for 2 minutes (if using a sauté pan, transfer the meat and onion mixture to the slow cooker)
- turn off the sauté function stir in the garlic, rice wine vinegar, gochujang paste, sugar, and water
- secure Instant Pot lid and set pressure valve to Venting
- cook on Slow Cook function for 8-10 hours on LOW or 4 hours on HIGH
- at the end of cooking remove the lid and take out the meat, pull apart and stir back into the sauce
- salad;
- combine the salad in a bowl with the oil and lime juice dressing
- serve with kimchi and rice or our optional side salad
“It’s so delicious and exciting,” Anthony Bourdain the host of CNN’s “Parts Unknown” told AdWeek’s Lisa Granatstein. “[It’s] what the cool kids want — spicy, funky, fermented, that whole spectrum of flavors.”
-Anthony Bourdain on Korean Food
