Make Your Own Bibimbap

I promised you all a Bibimbap recipe before we went to California last (last) week.* Here it is. 

Once you have your Bulgogi organized and you’ve either made or bought Gochujang, it’s just a matter of stir-frying vegetables in separate batches and arranging the bundles prettily on top of the rice. A fried egg (or four) goes on top.

Some folks don’t fuss with the rice. They just put the cooked short grain rice in the bottom of a shallow, wide bowl and top it with the vegetables. I like the rice to be crispy, even crunchy, on the bottom, so you’ll see how to do that in the recipe below.

Note:

The amounts of the vegetables don’t have to be exact. Also add in or take out what you like and/or don’t like.

BIBIMBAP

 

2 cups short grain white rice

Bulgogi (Use as little or much as you like. The recipe calls for 1½ lbs. of beef.)

4 carrots, cut into a thick matchstick

1 cup mushrooms, chopped

½ big red pepper, cut into a thick matchstick

1 zucchini, cut into a thick matchstick

1 bunch of kale, washed, stripped of center core and sliced into thin strips

1 container bean sprouts, washed well

Oil for stir-frying

2 tbls. oil for crisping the rice
For serving:
1 tbl. sesame oil 
a few spoonfuls Gochujang

(If possible, cook your rice earlier in the day or at least an hour or two before.) Wash the rice in several changes of water. Place in a heavy bottomed pot with 2½ cups water. (Purists would faint, but sometimes I get nervous and add as much as 3 cups of water. I’ve never noticed a difference.) Bring to a boil. Cover and turn heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes, without opening the lid. Let sit, covered, for 10 minutes, then spoon out onto a dinner plate and let cool until ready to use.

Stir fry each batch of vegetables separately in vegetable or olive oil in a wok or nonstick frying pan. Season each one lightly with salt.  

Heat 2 tbls. oil over medium heat in a Dutch oven. Add rice and pat down evenly. Cover and let cook for 10 to 15 minutes. If it’s cooking too fast, turn down heat just a bit.  Check to see if the rice has a nice crust. Arrange the vegetables and bulgogi on top of the rice.

Fry 4 eggs in a nonstick frying pan and carefully lay them on top of the vegetables and bulgogi. It’s prettier if you leave them sunny side up, but one of my eggs was a little snotty, so I’ll turn it over next time. Drizzle with sesame oil and serve with Gochujang. 



*(I posted some Cali pix on Instagram and Foodspotting.)