While I was thinking about the recent Korean and Mexican fusion dishes that I made recently, I was also thinking about side dishes and one thing that came to mind was Korean refried beans. When I make refried beans I often spike them with some freshly toasted ground chilies and cumin and I was thinking that a Korean version could use gochujang, a Korean fermented chili paste, and sesame both in the form of toasted and crushed seeds and oil. I usually fry my refried beans in bacon grease to add flavour and since I rarely have bacon grease on hand that means that I need to cook some bacon and if I am cooking it anyways I might as well throw it as well. Since pork belly is commonly used in Korean cooking I decided to replace the bacon with some uncured pork belly. Next up was the beans and since I generally regard azuki beans as Asian I decided to use them instead of the usual pinto or black beans. The Korean style refried beans were easy to make and they turned out really well. They were nice and creamy and full of flavour. I really like the way the spicy and tasty gochujang worked with the creamy azuki beans and the sesame aroma definitely made me think of Asian cuisine while I was eating it. The Korean style refried beans worked well as a side dish for the Korean BBQ short rib tacos .
Korean Style Refried Beans
ingredients
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 ounces pork belly (or bacon, thinly sliced)
- 1 small onion (chopped, optional)
- 1 clove garlic (chopped, optional)
- 1 (19 ounce) can azuki beans (or pinto, black, etc., drained and rinsed) (or 1 1/2 cups cooked beans, from 1/2 cup dry)
- 2 tablespoons gochujang
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds (toasted and crushed)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
directions
- Heat the oil in a pan.
- Add the pork belly and cook until it turns white.
- Add the onion and saute until tender, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add the beans and gochujang and cook until warm.
- Mash the beans until you get them to the consistency that you want and stir in the sesame seeds and sesame oil. (If the beans are too thick you can add water to thin them out.)
I've been in love with your Korean posts as of late. Just fantastic!
Wow, innovative. I love the fusion thing, and LOVE refried beans, so this sounds really intriguing. Yum.
You're on a role with the Korean themed dishes lately. Love it!!!!
wow,..what an atractive looking dish!
Love it!
Once again Kevin you are amazing at coming up with these fusion dishes. You are so uninhibited in the kitchen! I love refried beans and this spin you've put on them sounds fantastic.
That's definitely very creative! Looks tasty too.
this is such an interesting fusion of flavors, i love it!
The creative sparks firing through your culinary mind impress me, Kevin.
Your dishes just keep gett'in better!
Kevin your creativity just kills me and at the same time inspires me. Love this Korean theme you have rocking and rolling here.
what a great blend of flavors!
What a good combination! I love it 😀
Woah! What a great experimentation of fushion. Love korean flavous so this style interests me. Spicy korean style refried beans… i can see that with some flat bread!
Kevin that look so yummy! I love the idea of Korean and Mexican!