I've been binge watching waaaaaay too much Kdrama. I finished "Let's Eat 1" and "Let's Eat 2", both on Netflix, in less than a week!!! Yikes!
Every time I watch these episodes, my mouth is watering. So this recipe is inspired from these 2 series of Kdramas where the main characters are eating their pork bellies, wrapped in lettuce.
I'd say this recipe is similar to Korean bossam--thin slices of boiled pork belly wrapped in lettuce or napa cabbage leaves, dipped in a spicy sauce. Since I want to be a little healthier, and I'm a wimp when it comes to spicy foods, I've developed this recipe to use pork butt instead of pork belly; and the dipping sauce is not spicy at all. It's similar to a Taiwanese Hot pot dipping sauce that uses a thick Chinese sesame paste. If you don't have any sesame paste, replacing with all peanut butter and adding in some sesame oil is a totally awesome dipping sauce as well.
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| Marinate pork overnight |
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| Place in instant pot |
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| High pressure 25 min, NR 10 min |
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| Remove pork and allow to cool |
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| Separate out the fat from the collected liquids in the instant pot |
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| Ingredients for sauce. |
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| Slice pork and arrange on platter with washed lettuce leaves. Moisten with collected liquids if needed. Serve with sauce. Enjoy! (FYI: Pictured on this platter is only half the recipe portion of pork and lettuce.) |
Yields 6 servings
Ingredients for boiled pork:
- 3 lbs boneless pork butt, trimmed of fat, and cut into 4 strips (2 x 3 x 7 inches*)
- 2 t salt
- 1 t sugar
- ½ t ground black pepper
- ½ t smoked paprika
- ½ c water
- 2 heads of romaine lettuce, washed and dried
Ingredients for sauce:
- 1 clove of garlic, very finely minced or pressed through a garlic press
- 3 T Chinese sesame paste
- 1 T peanut butter
- ¼ c water
- 2 T regular soy sauce
- ½ T rice vinegar
- 1/8 t sugar
- 1 t chili oil (optional)
NOTE: If your pork strips are cut thinner than 2 X 3 inches, or you are only making half the recipe, then reduce the instant pot cooking time to 19 minutes under high pressure, as you want the pork to be tender, but you don't want the pork to fall apart when trying to take the strips out from the instant pot.
Procedures:
1. Trim large pieces of fat off pork butt. Discard fat. Cut pork butt into 4 strips that are roughly 2 inches by 3 inches by 7 inches. You basically want the pork strips to be able to fit inside your instant pot in a single layer (See photo)
2. Marinate the pork strips with the salt, sugar, pepper, and paprika overnight in the fridge.
3. The next day, place ½ c water in the instant pot. Place the pork strips in the instant pot in a single layer (See photo). Close lid to instant pot, and place vent to seal. Set the instant pot to pressure cook for 25 minutes, and natural release for 10 minutes. (NOTE: Reduce to 19 minutes if your pork strips were cut smaller.)
4. After the timer is up, release the remaining pressure. Carefully open the lid, and with tongs, carefully remove the pork pieces to a large plate, and allow the pork to cool down. Tent with foil to prevent drying out. (Do not attempt to slice pork when hot, or the pork will shred to pieces. Wait til it cools down a bit.)
5. Meanwhile, take the liquid in the instant pot and separate out the fat. The liquid can be used to moisten the pork if they start to dry out. (You can save the rest for soup or discard.)
6. Make the sauce by mixing all the ingredients for the sauce until smooth. Set aside.
7. When the pork has cooled down, carefully slice the pork into ¼ inch thick slices and arrange on a platter with the lettuce. To eat, place a slice of pork on the lettuce. Drizzle with some sauce, wrap, and eat. I like to also place a teaspoon of steamed rice into the lettuce wrap, or sometimes some pickled daikon and carrots (Recipe here).