Beef rib jjim, called “SoGalBi Jjim (소갈비 찜)” in Korean, is a popular traditional holiday or party food in Korea. Since it takes some time for the preparation, marination, and cooking, Koreans usually save this dish for special days. The meat is tender and delicious with a sweet and salty flavor to it. Many people requested this dish, so I am very excited to share my beef rib jjim recipe with you. Try it someday.
Yield: 4 Servings
Short Korean Lesson
- Byeok (벽) = Wall
- Mun (문) = Door
Video Instructions
Main Ingredients
- 2 lb Beef Short Ribs
- 1 Cup Potato
- ½ Cup Carrot
- 14 Peeled Chestnuts
- 1½ Cups Beef Broth
- Some Fried Egg (Garnishing)
- Some Pine Nuts (Garnishing)
Sauce Ingredients
- 1 Cup Asian Pear
- 1 Cup Onion
- 6 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 3 Tbsp Sugar
- 3 Tbsp Cooking Wine (or Water)
- 2 Tbsp Finely Chopped Green Onion
- 1½ Tbsp Minced Garlic
- 1 Tbsp Sesame Oil
- ½ Tbsp Sesame Seeds
- ¼ tsp Black Pepper
- 2 Pinches Ginger Powder
Directions
Obtain about 2 lb of beef ribs or pork short ribs. Since I could not find short ribs with the bone and meat together, I used country ribs instead, and it worked fine. Cut the meat into 1-inch cubes.
Soak the beef in cold water for at least an hour to draw out some of the blood. Many Koreans think that blood is not healthy to eat, so that is why we do this step.
An hour later, pour about 6 cups of water and into a big pan and add the beef. Once it starts to boil, cook it for 5 minutes on high.
Take 1½ cups of beef broth from the pan and save it for later.
Drain out the rest of the beef broth and set aside the meat. The reason for this short boiling time is to get some broth for cooking, and cooked meat marinates better than raw meat. Perform this step twice to get rid of more fat if you want; however I did it just once, and it was good enough for me.
Obtain 1 cup of Asian pear chunks and 1 cup of onion chunks.
Grind the pear and onion to make paste. This paste is the secret for great flavor, and it helps the meat become tender.
Combine the pear and onion mixture, 6 Tbsp of soy sauce, 3 Tbsp of sugar, 3 Tbsp of cooking wine (or water), 2 Tbsp of finely chopped green onion, 1½ Tbsp of minced garlic, 1 Tbsp of sesame oil, ½ Tbsp of sesame seeds, ¼ tsp of black pepper, and 2 pinches of ginger powder in a mixing bowl. Mix everything together.
Add the beef ribs into the sauce.
Mix everything together. Marinate the beef ribs overnight in the refrigerator. Longer marination leads to more flavor, but if you don’t have much time, marinate it for at least several hours before cooking.
The next day, cook the marinated beef and the 1½ cups of beef broth you saved. Once the broth starts to boil, cook it uncovered for about an hour on medium-low. It is important not to cook the meat on high, or the meat will become tough.
Dice the vegetables into ½ inch pieces. Cut off the edges of the vegetable pieces with a vegetable peeler; this will improve the appearance of your beef jjim because the edges of the vegetables will fall apart while they are cooked and make your broth cloudy and thicker.
Obtain 1 cup of potato, ½ cup of carrot, and about 14 peeled chestnuts. You can also use Korean radish instead of chestnuts.
About an hour later, add the vegetables and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until the vegetables become soft on medium-high. Put the lid on in this step.
The broth will thicken, and almost disappear.
Garnish the dish with pine nuts, fried egg whites, and fried egg yolks. I fried an egg separately and cut it into diamond shapes. You can skip this part, and just sprinkle some more sesame seeds on top instead. Enjoy!
wow!! aeri this looks amazing!! i will try it soon! 😀
hi ayumi
Thanks.. hehe I hope you like it. 🙂
This looks delicious. I may try it for Labor Day. Thanks for the tip about using country ribs, because I have not been able to find Korean-style beef rib, even in the Asian groceries. 😎
hi Janet Vandenabeele,
That sounds like a good idea for Labor Day meal. I can understand because I’m in a same situation.. can’t find Korean style beef rib.. hehe actually I was very satisfied with the country rib..because you don’t have to work with the bones when you eat them.. lol Enjoy your meal.. thanks
Thanks for this recipe. I have all the ingredients except chestnuts but I will replace them with radish..as I am not so fond of chestnuts. Can I use fresh ginger instead of those powdered ones? Really, you always make these recipes look so easy!! I had made napa cabbage kimchi and garlic chives kimchi too. Will eat all of this together 😉 come Saturday! Yes, they are all from your recipes
Hi layping,
Yes, fresh ginger sounds good. Just add about 1/2 tsp of minced ginger to the sauce .. yes.. use korean radish instead of chestnut.. you can peel the edges like potato and carrot for it. I want to join to your dinner.. lol Enjoy.. thanks
Hi Aeri,
I have a question:in cheese oven spaghetti,what is spaghetti Sauce?
I mean Do you have a recipe for this sauce?
hi danoosh,
I just bought a spaghetti sauce from a store. so use the spaghetti sauce you like. 🙂 thanks
Hi Aeri
One of my friend just recommended your website to make Korean food. I love Korean food but have never made one myself besides having them at the restaurants. this Beef Short Rib Jjim recipe sounds great. I would like to try to make it. Do you serve it by itself or do you serve it with side dish. If you serve with side dishes what types of side dishes do you make to serve with this Beef short rib recipe. Any recipe recommendations? Thanks!
hi Bulbul,
Any kinds of side-dishes will work great with this. Here is a link for all the side-dishes..
http://aeriskitchen.com/pic-index-korean/#side_dishes
Among them.. since it’s meat dish, I will like to eat something.. to refresh my mouth…such as
http://aeriskitchen.com/2010/09/pickled-radish-garnish/
http://aeriskitchen.com/2010/09/pickled-cucumber-garnish/
http://aeriskitchen.com/2010/12/korean-radish-water-kimchi/
http://aeriskitchen.com/2010/06/cold-cucumber-side-dish-%EC%98%A4%EC%9D%B4-%EB%83%89%EA%B5%ADoi-naengguk/
http://aeriskitchen.com/2009/03/garlich-chive-cucumber-side-dish-%EB%B6%80%EC%B6%94%EC%98%A4%EC%9D%B4-%EB%AC%B4%EC%B9%A8-buchu-oi-muchim/
and all other kinds of kimchi will match great too.
thanks 🙂
I Love it very much. I think my children will like it too like you make it for bryson 🙂
i cant find asian pear so can i use regular pear
hi nora,
Yes.. or you can use sweet apple also. but asian pear taste best for it..
Anyoung thank you for the recipe i check your website daily because there is so much yummy food.I can wait till i show unnie. 😀 but i have to ask ummas permission before i use the kitchen cuz i am only a teen. 🙁 i cant wait for more yummy food.
is there any tips that can be easier for me plz tell
bai bai 🙂
hi Yuna,
If you use premade galbi sauce.. it can be a little easier for you to make this dish. ^^ Sempio galbi sauce is pretty good to use. Here is a link for you.
http://aeriskitchen.com/shop-sempio/
gamsahanida…umma well be very proud of me when i make this dish thank you for posting this dish.. i can’t wait for more dish 🙂 안영
연아
question: the dish of “galbi jjim” is rather universal. The “so” in front means? If I call up LA Ktown restaurants & ask for “so galbi jjim”, are they going to laugh at me? (I suspect they’d laugh either way but…)
means beef 🙂
hi SinoSoul,
Well.. they will not laugh at me..if I was there.. I would smile..because it’s very impressive that you know the right name for the korean dish.. yes.. so galbi jjim is right name.. “so” means.. beef..and “galbi” means..”rib” ..”jjim” means “a term for korean cooking method” for this dish.. ^^
I have a question: do you pour in the marinade as well when you put the beef into the pot? or do you put in just the beef and broth?
Thanks.
hi Leo,
Put all the marinated sauce and beef in the pot and pour the broth too.. ^^ thanks
Hi Aeri! As always, thank you so much for sharing with us so many delicious recipes! I will be heading out to buy the needed ingredients for this recipe later today! I’m so excited to try this along with a few other recipes you posted in the summer that I haven’t gotten around to! The pictures you posted are so mouth-watering! Can’t wait to see the results of this one! 감사함니다~^^
hi! I cooked this for dinner with friends and husband and it was super delicious! I added more vegetable than recommended and also added white mushroom — really loved it! (picture in website link)
Thank you for the recipe!
picture here: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-z_am2eUdigY/To3-o3mNbzI/AAAAAAAAEn0/VbwsQ3Z1XGs/s640/_1000738.jpg
hi Juebejue,
Wow, thank you for sharing the picture with us.. it looked really really good.. @,@ good job.. 🙂
Hello Aeri, I miss you a lot. I am still leanig from your recipes. I hope we dont loos our friendship. Having Facebook was easy to contact you.. Now you seam very far away. Miss you a lot. 😛 Maria V. Salvadó
hi Maria,
Oh~~~ I miss friends on facebook too. I hope that I can go back someday soon again. Please wait for me and don’t forget me..hehe I will keep our friendship for a lo~~~~ng time.. ^^ thanks..
Hi, i was wondering if the cooking time was a total of around 2 hours and 15 minutes? i see in the steps that you say to cook on medium low for about 1 hour and then to cut up the vegetables. then after that you say “about an hour later” to add the vegetables.
does that mean that 2 hours or just one hour?
well just made it. i guess it isnt two hours. i just cooked about and hour and 15 or so before adding the vegetables.
made it with pork country style ribs. came out great! everyone at my dinner party loved it. i think we ate too much tho. 😳
hi Frank,
Sorry for too late reply. ^^:; oh.. you made it work..hehe.. thank you very much. happy to hear that you loved it. yay ~~~ 🙂
Hi~ Aeri. My name is Jenny who interested in all of korean meals .It is great to meet you 😛 I just decided that i am gonna cook it for dinner .Which part of beef should i bye for this cooking..??
hi Cho ‘ s Jenny,
Nice to meet you too. 🙂
I used country rib for this recipe..and it worked great.. so try it. ^^
😛 hi aeri im leslie i just ask if can use kalbi marinade sauce (in the bottle) for that kalbi?.. thanks
can i use kalbi marinade sauce or maybe a bbq sauce for that dish?.. thank you
hi leslie
Yes, you can try that.. just adjust the sauce amount for your taste. 🙂
Just wondering if I use the same marinating liquid and beef broth for sauce. Or do I discard the marinate and reduce beef in beef broth.
Thanks 😎
hi Lem,
Sorry I couldn’t understand what you wanted to ask exactly.
I saved some of the beef broth for later and combined the saved broth to the sauce. If it’s now clear, sorry please ask me again.
언니 돼지갈비 찜 있어요?여떡해 만들어요?
여기는 돼지갈비 쓰면 돼죠?
thank youuu^^ 🙂
hi sherine,
네.. 소갈비 대신 돼지갈비 쓰면 돼요. ^^
Thanks for the recipe. I’m going to use it when I make some oxtail jjim.
Hi. Can i usa apple instead of pear?
hi Saka,
Yes you can…but sweet apple not sour ones..
Aeri 언니!!
Can I not use ginger? I don’t cook too much with it, so buying it feels like wasting money:/ Thank you!!!!! ^_^
hi Liza,
Yes, I understand that feeling. You can skip it, it will be still delicious. 🙂
Hey!
I am making this dish right now, but there are some ingredients I could not find anywhere in my city and that was asian pear and chestnut/korean radish…. 😕 I used normal pears that I had let mature for a while so that they were softer and more sweet and Im thinking I will just add some more potato and carrot when I cook it tmrw… do you think that will be ok? Great site btw I use your recipes all the time, they are great! 😀
hi Marie,
Oops, sorry for late reply… I hope you made it work.. as you asked…. yes you can skip the ingredients you don’t have and.. replace with potato and carrot.. thanks..
Hi Aeri,
I tried making this over the weekend. The beef was so tender but it almost burned! The liquid dried about 45 mins through the simmering process. I added water and that helped. Also I had to stir it constantly to make sure the sauce didn’t stick to the pot. This was a trial and will make it again for my friends this weekend. Any tips for next time? Thanks and your website is the best!
hi Jewel,
I wonder what temperature of the heat you used for cooking.. since you said simmering process…because.. it shouldn’t burn (almost burn)… maybe reduce more temperature to cook… thanks.
I just made your recipe today and it was a hit! I did add some sprite and corn syrup to the marinade, but I’m not sure it made much difference … It came out very sweet and savory. Thanks for the recipe!
hi Deborah,
Thanks for trying my recipe. I’m glad that you liked it. ^^
I would like to know if I could use the pressure cooker to save time instead of simmering the beef for an hour?
hi Mee Mee,
Yes, you can.. some people use it.. just You have to watch to use pressure cooker.. since you can easily lose your broth..and can burn it… when the pressure cooker becomes hot enough.. reduce the temperature to medium and continuously cook it.. Thanks
Hello, I was wondering if I could use potatoes instead of chestnuts? Thank you in advance ^_^
hi Gabby,
Sure you can. ^^ It will be still good. thanks
Thank you so much for this recipe Aeri! I spent 3 years teaching in Korea, and this tastes just like the Ajumma’s beef jjim that they used to make sometimes at the school cafeteria- it was my favorite dish!! I followed your recipe exactly and my brothers and parents loved it! I made it again for my husband but had to use apple instead of asian pear and the taste was still excellent! I used honey crunch apples in case anyone else needs a substitute for asian pear- this works really well!!
hi Tania,
honey crunch apple..yay!! That was a useful info for everybody. If I was still in America, it could be an awesome info for me too..since I had some difficulties to get Asian pear there. ^^ Thanks
my kids prefer it with lots of sauce how do i do that ?
my kids like galbijim with a lot of sauce how do i do it?
hi jojo chan,
Keep the ratio of the ingredients..and increase the amount to make more sauce for your galbijim. ^^ Like.. make 1.5 times for sauce ingredients.. Thanks
Hi Aeri!
This recipe looks really great! I can’t wait to try it. I just had a question, I wanted to try making this recipe in the slow cooker instead…Do you have any suggestions?
Also my second question is, are you putting already cooked chestnuts or raw chestnuts?
Thank you so much! Looking forward to hearing from you,
Amy
Hi Amy, You can use a slow cooker. The process will not be much different. Just put the marinated beef with other vegetable ingredients and cook them in the slower cooker. 🙂 I used raw chestnuts. Thanks