Bibimbap

A rice bowl whose every vegetable is cooked and seasoned separately, arranged in sections and mixed only at the table.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg. Vegetarian only if you leave out the optional beef.

Ingredients

For the bowl

• steamed short-grain rice for 4, as on its own page
• 4 eggs
• 200 g beef sirloin, in thin strips, optional
• sesame oil, for the bowls

The vegetables, each seasoned separately

• 200 g spinach
• 200 g beansprouts
• 1 courgette, in matchsticks
• 150 g shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• 1 carrot, in matchsticks
• 100 g Korean radish, in matchsticks
• sesame oil, toasted sesame seeds, garlic, salt

For the sauce

• 3 tablespoons gochujang
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon water
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar

Method

1. EVERY VEGETABLE IS COOKED AND SEASONED SEPARATELY, and that is the dish. Six small bowls, six separate seasonings. Thrown in a pan together they cook to one texture and taste of one thing, and the whole point of the arrangement is that each mouthful after mixing is slightly different from the last. It is more washing up than any other page on this site and there is no way round it.
2. THE SEASONINGS ARE NOT ALL THE SAME EITHER. Spinach blanched and squeezed dry, then sesame oil, garlic and salt. Beansprouts blanched briefly, sesame and salt only. Courgette and carrot fried fast in a dry-ish pan with salt. Mushrooms fried hard with a splash of soy. Radish raw, with vinegar and sugar. The vegetables that taste of little get garlic; the ones that taste of themselves do not.
3. AND THEY ARE ARRANGED IN SECTIONS, NOT STIRRED IN. The cook arranges; the eater mixes. Served pre-mixed it arrives as a uniform brown bowl, and the person eating it never sees what was in it.
4. THE SPINACH AND BEANSPROUTS MUST BE SQUEEZED DRY. Both hold a surprising amount of water and it collects in the bottom of the bowl, thinning the gochujang sauce into pink liquid.
5. THE SAUCE IS LOOSENED WITH WATER AND VINEGAR. Gochujang straight from the tub is too stiff to disperse through rice and too sweet on its own.
6. Steamed rice made as on its own page and kept warm.
7. Spinach blanched 30 seconds, refreshed, SQUEEZED DRY, and dressed with sesame oil, a crushed garlic clove, sesame seeds and salt.
8. Beansprouts blanched 2 minutes, refreshed, SQUEEZED, dressed with sesame oil, sesame seeds and salt.
9. Carrot and courgette fried separately over a high heat 2 minutes each with a pinch of salt.
10. Mushrooms fried hard 4 minutes with a splash of soy sauce.
11. Radish matchsticks tossed raw with the vinegar, sugar and a pinch of salt.
12. Beef, if using, fried fast with a little soy and sesame oil.
13. The sauce ingredients stirred smooth.
14. Four bowls brushed inside with sesame oil, filled with hot rice, and the vegetables laid on top in SEPARATE SECTIONS around the edge with the beef in the middle.
15. An egg fried to order, yolk soft, set on each. Served with the sauce separately and mixed hard at the table.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under South Korea · All recipes