Korean Influenced Border Food or Border Influenced Korean?

I grew up in the mid west (Colorado) and extreme southern California before spending seven years in Korea, so I grew up eating meat, cornbread, and potatoes with plenty of nachos, tacos, and burritos tossed in. Breakfast was pancakes from scratch, a mess of eggs, bacon, and or ham, and often rolled in soft flour tortillas.
With my time in Korea, I found that foods, flavors, and techniques from the southern border of the United States melded very well with Korean ingredients and cooking methods.
So it just seemed natural to put Bulgogi style beef in a tortilla with cheese and chili peppers to make a delicious fusion meal.
Don't forget the side of cheesy nachos with chopped kimchi salsa.

Ingredients
1 pound beef brisket, or thick cut flank steak
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 each small onion
2 teaspoons sesame seed
6 each medium flour or corn tortillas (8 inch diameter)
3 ounces Shredded cheddar and jack cheeses (or your favorite cheese)

Marinade/Stir Fry Sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 ounce ginger
6 each cloves garlic
2 tablespoons medium ground red chili pepper
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 each small green onion
3 tablespoons water

Optional Filling Ingredients
3 hot red or green chili peppers, diced
1 medium tomato, diced
shredded lettuce
slivered garlic

Directions
Marinade:
Peel and crush the garlic and ginger (or toss into blender with water).
Fine chop the green onion.
Combine all marinade ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well.
Let stand at least fifteen minutes for flavor to develop.

Beef:
Cut the beef into strips roughly 1/8 inch thick by 1/2 inch wide by 1 1/2 inches long.
Very lightly salt and pepper the steak, mix well, and let stand fifteen minutes.

Onion:
Peel and rough chop the onion.

Mix:
Place steak, sesame seed, and onion into the marinade and mix well. Add a small amount of water if needed to thin the marinade enough to mix.
Let stand 2 hours.

Cook
Place meat mixture into a heated pan over medium high heat.
Stir fry for three to four minutes until meat is browned.
Remove pan from heat and transfer meat to a bowl or platter.
Heat tortilla and place equal amounts of meat on each.
Top with cheese and any optional ingredients.
Dress with sriracha or chipotle sauce and serve.

Tip:
Partially freezing the beef makes it much easier to slice. 


This recipe was originally published to my first web site, hannaone.com. It may still appear there without permission after the domain was sold out from under me

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Image by hannaone: Beef and tortilla wraps.