Korean Beef BBQ tacos with cucumber slaw

This dish was a night-over-night winner.  Using the chuck roast makes it endlessly easier than using ribs.  And, it makes a cheap cut of meat fork tender.  The cucumber slaw gives a nice, refreshing crunch.  Next time I will definitely add bean sprouts, or even water chestnuts, because the crunch is such a nice thing.  My husband proceeded to eat the leftovers over anything else I served the next two nights!

Korean Beef Tacos and Cucumber Slaw
Adapted from Confessions of a foodie Bride


For the Korean beef:
~5 lbs beef  chuck roast
1 bottle (10 oz) low sodium soy sauce
1 cup packed brown sugar
6 cloves garlic, minced
4 Tbsp ginger, grated
6 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 Tbsp dark sesame oil
2 Tbsp vegetable or olive oil
2 Tbsp sriracha
1 1/2 cups water (optional)

For the Cucumber Slaw:
1 cucumber (seedless if you like)
Thinly sliced red onion rounds, about 1/3 cup
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
crushed red pepper flakes to taste

For the tacos:
homemade tortillas
cilantro
bean sprouts
Greek yogurt (or sour cream)
sriracha

To make the cucumber slaw, slice the cucumber very thinly.

Transfer to a bowl and toss with red onions, rice vinegar, and red pepper flakes. Refrigerate until ready to use (leftovers get less and less crunchy as they sit but it can be made ahead, just pour off any accumulated liquid and toss with an additional 1-2 tsp vinegar to taste, if necessary).

To make the Korean beef for the tacos, spray your pot with non-stick cooking spray and add the chuck roast.
Whisk soy sauce, sugar, and vinegar with the garlic, ginger, sriracha, and oils.
Pour over the chuck roast in the crockpot. (Adding 1 1/2 cups of water if necessary to cover meat.)
Cook at 250 F  for roughly 6 hours.
If desired, remove 1 1/2 cups of the cooking liquid and skim the fat from the top. Pour the liquid into a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until reduced by about half and pour over the shredded meat.
To assemble, serve the shredded meat on warmed tortillas topped a spoon of cucumber slaw, cilantro, bean sprouts, sriracha and a dollop of yogurt.