Work Week Lunch

0 Make the marinade. Combine the soy sauce, brown sugar, and sesame oil, stirring until the sugar is mostly dissolved. In a wide and shallow mixing bowl or baking dish, add the steak, onions, pear, garlic, ginger, green onion, sesame seeds, and pepper. Add the soy sauce mixture and mix well with your hands or tongs until the meat is evenly covered in the sauce. It will be thick and chunky. For a smoother marinade, combine the garlic, ginger, and pear in a food processor or blender before adding it to the wet ingredients. Cover the meat tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes, up to 24 hours.
1 While the beef marinates, make the cucumber salad. Add your chopped cucumbers, half of the shredded carrot, green onion, and garlic to a medium bowl. Add the red pepper flakes, chipotle powder, sugar, salt, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and sesame seeds and mix well until the cucumbers are starting to get juicy and are fully coated. Set aside.
2 While the beef marinates, make the gochujang mayo. Combine the mayo, gochujang, and lime juice. Stir well and taste, adding more lime juice and gochujang to your preference.
3 Cook the beef. Heat a skillet or grill pan over medium-high heat and let it get really hot. Add a splash of cooking oil and once it shimmers, add the beef in batches. The beef will cook really quickly depending on how thick you cut it. Mine cooked to medium doneness in about 3 minutes. Stir the beef frequently to cook on all sides. Set aside.
4 Store the beef separately from the other ingredients. Assemble the tacos when you are ready to eat. Reheat the beef, then add lettuce, beef, the remaining shredded carrot, chopped kimchi, and gochujang mayo to a tortilla. That’s it!