Slow Cooker Korean Beef Short Ribs (갈비찜, Galbijjim)

I modified the Slow Cooker Galbijjim (Korean Braised Short Ribs) recipe found at Korean Bapsang to make this dish since I had never made this before. It all started out when I found beef short ribs at my local Asian market, and since I’ve been using more Korean ingredients in my cooking, I wanted to make a dish using these ingredients. This is by no means a traditional Korean recipe, and it turns out I didn’t use any of the Korean sauce ingredients to make this dish. I did use a pear in the marinade as a tenderizer and marinated the beef for 48 hours. One thing I like about this version is that the marinade is also used to make the dish and there’s no need to brown the beef short ribs before cooking in the slow cooker. Using a slow cooker is certainly not the traditional way to make this dish, but it certainly makes it very easy. For some reason, I forgot to add the Shiitake mushrooms when I made this dish, but they are included in the recipe.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

4 lb.	2 kg.	Beef short ribs (牛肉, ngau4 juk6), cut into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces
1	1	Pear (梨, lei4)
1 in.	2.5 cm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1)
6 cloves	6 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3)
½ cup	125 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
½ cup	125 ml.	Sake (清酒, ceng1 zau2)
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
1 lb.	500 g.	Carrots (紅蘿蔔, hung4 lo4 baak6), cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces
1 lb.	500 g.	Daikon (白蘿蔔, baak6 lo4 baak6), quartered and cut into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces
1	1	Onion (洋蔥, joeng4 cung1), halved and cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces
12	12	Dried Shiitake mushrooms (冬菇, dung1 gu1), rehydrated and cut into quarters
		Shiitake mushroom rehydration liquid, chicken stock, or water to cover the beef short ribs and Shiitake mushrooms
3 Tbs.	45 ml.	Tapioca starch (木薯澱粉, muk6 syu4 din6 fan2)
3 Tbs.	45 ml.	Water

Equipment

4 qt.	3.8 L.	Covered bowl
6.5 qt.	6 L.	Slow cooker (crock pot) to cook the stew
		Food processor or blender
		Slotted spoon
		Fat separator

Instructions

1. Purchase or have your butcher cut beef short ribs into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces. Prepare the beef short ribs by removing any excess fat and then wash the beef short ribs under cold water to remove any bone particles. Put the beef into a covered container.
2. Prepare the marinade by placing the pear, ginger and garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sake, ground white pepper, and sesame oil into a food processor or blender. Pour the marinade into the covered container with the beef and marinate for at least 48 hours in the refrigerator. Take covered container with the beef out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking and place the entire contents (marinade and beef short ribs) into the slow cooker.
3. Pour boiling water over the dried Shiitake mushrooms in a heat proof bowl and rehydrate the mushrooms for at least one hour. Remove the Shiitake mushrooms from the rehydration liquid, remove the stems, and cut them into quarters. Place the Shiitake mushroom pieces into the slow cooker on top of the beef. Add enough of the rehydration liquid to cover the beef short ribs and Shiitake mushrooms in the slow cooker.
4. Prepare the tapioca starch slurry by mixing the tapioca starch and water together. Place the tapioca starch slurry and mix thoroughly with the contents of the slow cooker.
5. Wash and cut the carrots into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces. Place the carrots in one layer into the slow cooker.
6. Remove the tough outer skin of the onion and cut in half. Cut each onion half into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces and place in one layer into the slow cooker.
7. Wash and cut the daikon into quarters, and then cut each daikon quarter into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces. Place the daikon pieces into the slow cooker.
8. Cover the slow cooker and cook on the low setting for up to 8 hours.
9. Remove the cooked ingredients with a slotted spoon into the serving dish and then use a fat separator to remove any excess fat from the sauce. Pour the sauce into the serving dish and serve with steamed rice.