Bibimbap Magic

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Honestly, I have not eaten a lot of Korean food. There just hasn’t been much of a chance to do so were I live. It was always on my long list of foods I want to try. Enter the Korean dramas… you know, the crack of TV.

It all started years ago when my anime and manga addiction was out of control. I was torrenting watching some anime online and I saw that there was a Korean live action version. I happily fell down the K drama rabbit hole, downloading them to finally having streaming services I could throw my money at like Dramafever, Crunchyroll, and even Netflix!

A lot of the food looked good and spicy, but maybe a little too carnivorous for me. Especially things like chicken feet or grilled small intestine. I’m sure it tastes great, but I’m just a bit shy of vegetarian and the word intestine is just TOO REAL man.

Then I saw the heroine in one of my shows, sad about her troubles, digging into a giant stainless steel bowl with a spoon of rice and various veggies. Topped with a red sauce that looked like it might be spicy. I paused the scene so I could read the name in the subtitles. There it was, bibimbap! A dish that soon became one of my ALL TIME favorites!

The cool thing about bibimbap are the options! You can use whatever vegetables you have left in the fridge to make it, you can also make it vegetarian if you aren’t feeling up to meat. Usually bulgogi beef, pork or chicken make up the meat portion and you want to get that egg JUUUUUUST right. You need that runny yolk, it becomes part of the sauce. As long as you have some rice, egg and gojuchang it’s all good!

After making it many times with different veg and meat, this recipe is my go to with some vegetable additions here and there.

Print Recipe

Bibimbap Sauce

Keyword: bibimbap, korean, sauces

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup gochujang (I use Mother-in-Law’s brand)
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp roasted sesame seeds (optional)
• 1 or 2 tbsp water
• 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp rice vinegar

Instructions

• Roast sesame seeds till golden.
• Mix all ingredients together. 

Print Recipe

Pickled Cucumber Salad

You want to make this at least an hour ahead for best results. 

Keyword: bibimbap, korean, sides

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• cayenne pepper
• 1 cup english cucumber sliced – half moon shape is easiest to eat

Instructions

• Cut up the cucumbers and put them in a fridge safe container.
• Mix all the ingredients into the cucumbers.
• Store in fridge up to 2 days.

Print Recipe

Bibimbap

Keyword: asian, bibimbap, korean

Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked rice
• Fried or poached egg for the top of each bowl
• Bibimbap sauce (see recipe)

The meat

• 1/2 lb beef
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp water
• Splash of sriracha

The vegetables

• Pickled cucumber salad (see recipe)
• 2 carrots julienned
• 1 cup shredded cabbage
• 3 green onions sliced on bias

Instructions

• Cut up all the veggies and arrange them separate from each other.
• Heat a frying pan with sesame oil or vegetable oil.
• Cook the beef till browned.  Mix the soy sauce, water, sriracha and brown sugar.  Add it to the meat and let cook on low while you start the vegetables in another pan.
• Have bowls with rice ready so you can plate meat and the vegetables as the are finished.
• Fry up all the vegetables (except the cabbage) separately adding a little oil to the pan before each .  Season with a dash of salt.
• Arrange the ingredients around the bowl.  Putting the egg on top, sprinkle with green onions.  Add the bibimbap sauce.
• When ready to eat, break the egg and mix all the ingredients together. 
• Enjoy the magic.

Notes

I like to add a little Sambal Oelek by Huy Fong Foods to mine, for an extra punch.

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