Every year I see pomegranates in the store and I always want to get one but can never think of what to do with it. I’ve looked up various recipes and some look good; some look okay, but nothing that really seemed worth it.

I remember as a kid in elementary school we use to get them and us girls would pick out the seeds and eat them staining our fingers and lips with their beautiful purple color. The boys would eat a few, but had much more fun throwing them either at each other, at us or at the stucco walls of the building and watching them explode.  Pomegranates soon became banned from school…I think that may have been the last time I had them.

I was excited when I came across a recipe for Korean Barbecue tacos with a Pomegranate-Cucumber Kimchi posted in the AZ Republic from POM.  I didn’t have some of the ingredients the recipe called for (and wasn’t going to buy them) 🙂 so I ended up making a modified version if the original recipe.  It was so very good!  In fact with the next night we used the leftover steak and cucumber kimchi to make an Asian salad.

The other thing that was good about this recipe was that even though the ingredient list is long it’s really easy to make. The part that took the longest was getting the seeds out of the pomegranate. Which I included a tip below that really helped me.

The original recipe calls for a sweet chili sauce to be added to the kimchi, but that was one of the ingredients I didn’t have so I improvised by adding Sriracha sauce and more honey

I was feeling lazy, so I didn’t pull out the mandolin to slice the cucumbers, but it would have been so much faster if I had. I made the kimchi first and then the marinade for the steak, so the kimchi probably sat for a 1 ½ hours. Word of warning the ginger and spices get a lot stronger as it sits.  Mr. E and I love ginger and spicy foods so we were okay, but if you don’t like spicy food, you’ll want to cut down on the amount of ginger and Sriracha.

Korean Barbecue Tacos with Cucumber Pomegranate Kimchi

 

Kimchi:

¼ cup pomegranate arils, or seeds

½ cucumber, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons seasoned rice wine vinegar

½ teaspoon Sriracha

1 teaspoon honey

2 small garlic cloves (or 1 large), pressed

½ tablespoon ginger, minced

1 tablespoon water

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon chili powder

 

Steak Marinade:

¼ cup pomegranate juice

¼ cup soy sauce

3 tablespoons white sugar

2 tablespoons seasoned rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce

4 garlic cloves, minced

4 tablespoons lime juice

2 teaspoons sesame oil

½ cup brown sugar

1 pound top round steak

 

Other Ingrediants:

Corn tortillas

Cilantro, for garnish

Limes, sliced, for garnish

 

**Tip for getting the seeds out of the pomegranate***

 

Fill a big bowl with water. Score the outside of the pomegranate with a knife. Then break apart the pomegranate under the water in the big bowl.  The seeds will sink to the bottom, and the other stuff will float. 

 

Kimchi: Slice the cucumber very thinly and set aside. In a medium to small size bowl add all the ingredients for the kimchi except the pomegranate seeds and the cucumber.  Use a whisk to mix well.  Then add the cucumber and pomegranate seeds, stir so that all of the cucumber slices get coated.  Set aside and refrigerate.

 

Steak Marinade: Trim any excess fat off the steak and set aside.  In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients for the marinade.  Pour the marinade over the steak.  I used a zip lock baggie for marinating. Let sit 1-2 hours in the refrigerator.

 

When ready to grill the steak, remove it from the fridge a few minutes before so that it can come to room temperature.   Lightly oil the grill grates and then grill the steak to your ‘cooked’ preference.  After removing from the grill, let rest for 5 minutes.  Then thinly slice.

 

To serve, heat up the tortillas, add the sliced steak, Kimchi, a bit of cilantro and a squeeze of lime. 

 

Enjoy!