Korean Fusion: The Bulgogi Burger with Fried Sesame Broccoli

I haven't posted a new recipe in a couple of weeks due to brainstorming a dish I've never ever even made an attempt at before. And what is it you might ask? Well, I did my take on a Korean burger, and even though these fusion burgers have been around for nearly years (what?!) I really wanted to create my version of a bulgogi burger. For the hamburger buns, I opted for a healthier choice - sushi rice! On top of the bulgogi is a sunny side up egg, with cabbage & carrot slaw, scallions and sriracha sauce.

Close-up of the fried sesame broccoli and a top view of the burger. Look at that perfect sunny side up egg!

Korean Fusion: The Bulgogi Burger with Fried Sesame Broccoli

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 pound flank steak, cut very thin using kitchen shears

1/3 cup soy sauce

Korean Fusion: The Bulgogi Burger with Fried Sesame Broccoli.

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup water

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

1-2 green onion, chopped

1 tsp garlic, minced

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp honey

Pinch of black pepper

Shredded cabbage & carrot slaw

Sushi Rice

2 Eggs

A sprinkle of sesame seeds

Sriracha sauce

Directions:

1. Combine yellow onion, white and light green parts of green onions, soy sauce, water, sugar, sesame seeds, garlic, sesame oil, and black pepper in a bowl until marinade is well mixed. Add steak slices to marinade; cover and refrigerate, 1 hour to 1 day. 4 hours is ideal.
2. Cook sushi rice in rice cooker. To make these rice buns, you simply form patties out of cooked rice (with damp hands!), brush them with a little soy sauce, and fry them until they get nice and crispy.
3. Grill meat until cooked through. Simultaneously cook the egg sunny side-up.
4. Top each patty with the bulgogi, one sunny side-up egg, shredded cabbage & carrot slaw, a slice or two of green onion,  some sriracha sauce and another rice bun.
5. Enjoy the heck out of it with some fried sesame broccoli! :)

These fried sesame broccoli bites are SINFULLY addicting! SO SO GOOD!

But the highlight of this experimental dish is the FRIED sesame broccoli. DUDE. As a child, I wasn't the biggest fan of broccoli, but when my Ma made her famous sesame broccoli as an 'Americanized' banchan, I immediately grew to love it! While coming up with a variety of Korean fusion dishes, a lightbulb went off. My mind instantly thought of frying a Korean side dish. And voila! Garnished with green onion, minced garlic and sesame seeds, the sesame broccoli is probably the best fusion dish I've made to date! I'm really proud of it and am so excited to share you my ideas when it comes to my cooking.  I'm only putting up the recipe for the burger because I'm still adding some final touches to the broccoli recipe.

Dipping sauce for the fried sesame broccoli bites - soy sauce, sriracha sauce, honey and sesame seeds.

The dipping sauce for the broccoli is simple. It consists of soy sauce, a couple of squirts of sriracha sauce and honey, with a sprinkle of sesame seeds on top. I would like to try a yuzu dipping sauce for my next test-run. What do you guys think of these fried sesame broccoli bites? Are you dying for the recipe or what?! I think I'll be doing a separate post just on these lil' guys because they're way too good not to share with the world! Stay tuned...

A closer look at a piece of the fried sesame broccoli. Absolutely delicious!

And here you have it! Take a look at that monstrous burger! Regarding the rice buns, make sure that while shaping the rice into the buns you are with damp hands. Sushi rice can be very sticky so be sure to follow this rule! Also, I've heard parchment paper works well if you want to mold the rice buns this way, but I only had some wax paper in my kitchen at the moment. (Yup, I'm still really not the baking type, but I'm always working on this, though!)

Final look of the bulgogi burger! Ready to be eaten. 😊

Love & xx's,

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