The inspiration for tonight's dinner was the Kogi Taco Truck in Los Angeles. Apparently they make a killer Korean BBQ beef short rib taco. Kevin Lynch of Closet Cooking has dissected the Koji Taco Truck recipe down to it's various components so I relied heavily on his recipe. Since we aren't eating beef, I improvised and made Korean BBQ shrimp tacos. I used a bottled Korean BBQ sauce, but next time I'll try making my own. I love making sauces but there just wasn't time in the day and the ingredients are not available locally. Got cochujang anyone? It is a fermented red chili paste used in Korean cooking. As usual, it is available through Amazon, but not by dinnertime.
Kevin's recipe includes the beef, shredded lettuce with Korean sesame vinaigrette, onion cilantro relish, as well as a salsa roja. I used the dressing and relish recipes but relied on my old friend Sriracha for the heat. These tacos were really good, so good in fact we ate them for lunch and again for dinner. I made a couple ahead of time so that I could photograph them in natural light.
By dinnertime , when I cooked the remaining shrimp and made more tacos, we passed on the Sriracha! Michael is not a fan and I was still burning from lunch. We really enjoyed the shredded romaine lettuce with sesame vinaigrette. It was a perfect topping along with the onion cilantro relish. We added avocado slices to the tacos at dinnertime. Michael liked the way they cooled down the heat from the BBQ sauce.
Ingredients
- For the relish:
- 1 sweet onion (chopped)
- 1 small bunch green onions (sliced diagonally)
- 1 handful cilantro (chopped)
- Juice of ½ lime
- Salt to taste
- For the salad:
- ½ head romaine lettuce (finely shredded)
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- Juice of ½ lime
- 1 TBS soy sauce
- 1 TBS red chili paste
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 lb large shrimp (peeled and deveined, tails removed)
- Bottled Korean BBQ Sauce
- Corn Tortillas
Instructions
- For the relish:
- Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine. Season with salt if desired. Cover and refrigerate.
- For the salad:
- Shred the romaine lettuce and place in a bowl. Refrigerate. Mix the remaining ingredients in a small bowl, Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve then toss with the romaine.
- Wash and dry the shrimp on paper towels. Place in a bowl and pour on the Korean BBQ sauce. Cover and keep in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes. Heat a grill or grill pan to high heat. Place the shrimp on the grill and cook 2 minutes on each side. Remove the shrimp from the grill. Place the tortillas on the grill and heat until just warm.
- Assemble the tacos with the shrimp on the bottom, topped with the romaine salad and onion cilantro relish. Garnish with hot sauce and avocado if desired.