Korean Style Braised Beef

My mom had now left for her annual vacation to the Philippines. She traveled last Saturday, but before she left, she had stocked food in the refrigerators and pantry for 2 weeks worth of meals. Well, that's the advantage of having an Expat Grandma! hehe!

She had bought about 7kg of beef and around 4-5kg of assorted fish. Vegetables, she had just left it for us to buy on our own--- actually mostly for me, depending on what I felt like cooking. That Friday before she left, we haven't dropped by the supermarket yet to get those veggies and so we're just thinking of having Nilagang Baka for lunch. But we just had that two days ago and Sinigang na Baka the previous day. So it was somewhat not enticing to prepare the same dish again within 3 days. I remembered I had bought a packet of bean sprouts from Mega Mart also, which I was thinking of using for lumpia. But it is more than enough for that so I decided to use some of the bean sprouts for the beef.

The recipe I had adapted from my little Good Housekeeping recipe book I had bought from the Philippines I don't know when, and have been in my shelf for maybe more than a year already. It has very good recipes for beef (the chicken recipe, I don't particularly liked), There was the Korean Barbeque recipe which I have already done a few times before. This time I thought of putting a little twist on the recipe by braising the beef instead of ordinarily marinating and simmering.
Braising is a technique where the meat (or vegetables) is first seared to brown its surface and then added with a small amount of liquid to simmer on very low heat to cook. In my case, I have transferred the seared meat into a stockpot and then add in the sauce recipe to slow cook for about an hour, checking from time to time to ensure that the sauce does not dry up and the meat doesn't get burned. The bean sprouts were added towards the last few minutes of cooking.
Ingredients:
1 kg short ribs
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup cooking oil
6 tbs light soy sauce
2 cups water
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbs rice vinegar
1 tbs sesame oil
sliced ginger
1 big onion, sliced
1 cup bean sprouts
spring onions for garnish
sesame seeds for garnish
Method:
I a plastic bag put the flour salt and pepper and shake to distribute the flavor. Add in the beef. Seal and shake well to coat all meat pieces evenly.
In a frying pan, heat half of the oil on medium heat. Place pieces of meat in batches, ensuring that all pieces are in a single layer on the pan. Brown one side then turn over to brown the other side. Make sure that the underside is thoroughly browned before turning the meat. You would want to limit moving the meat just once.
When both sides are browned, remove from pan and place in a plate with paper towel to drain excess oil. Do the same for the rest of the meat, use remaining oil if necessary (replace oil if there is too much burnt flour). 
In a casserole or stock pot, combine the light soy sauce, brown sugar, 1 cup water, ginger, and onion. Stir to dissolve sugar then add the the beef.
Cook on medium heat until it reaches boiling point and then adjust the heat to very low. Let simmer for about 30mins. 
After 30mins of cooking, check if sauce is almost drying up and add the remaining water gradually. Do not stir. 
Cover and let simmer for another 30 minutes then add the rice vinegar and bean sprouts. Cook for 10 minutes more then turn off the heat. Drizzle with sesame oil, cover and let rest for another 5 minutes.
Transfer into a serving bowl and garnish with spring onions and sesame seeds. Serve with hot rice. Enjoy!