Bibimbap

Last week, our friend, Reni, came down for a quick visit from Portland and we took her out for a lunch at a local Korean BBQ restaurant. We decided not barbecue our meats for fear of smelling like the grill when we finished. So we decided to order our own plates. I decided on Bibimbap, a Korean vegetable and rice dish. I've had bibimbap once before, but it was a more fusion-type bibimbap from Roy's Restaurant. So I felt a little embarrassed that I didn't know how to eat the real, authentic bibimbap. After our other friend, Vivian, took charge and added the house-sauce and mixed it all up, I was able to enjoy this light, yet filling dish.

I enjoyed my dish so much, that it inspired me to attempt to make it. And since it was a light dish, I figured I'd make it today, instead of barbecuing in the heat. The house-sauce reminds me of the sauce I use for one of my Korean tacos. So I figured Bibimbap wouldn't be too difficult to make. I looked at a few recipes and the common way of making it is by just cooking all the vegetables separately and seasoning them with sesame oil and salt. The sauce actually was similar to the sauces for Korean tacos. I finally settled on this recipe from the Food Network. It took a while to get all the vegetables cooked. I also used my Korean Bulgogi Beef recipe and chopped up the beef really finely using a food processor. The final product came out really well and I was quite pleased with the results. So was hubby.

steamed white rice
Bulgogi Beef, finely chopped

1 carrot, julienned and sauteed in sesame oil and salt

bean sprouts, sauteed in sesame oil and salt

1 lb. spinach, blanched and then seasoned with sesame oil and salt

4 cups shiitake mushrooms, sliced and sauteed in sesame oil and salt

2 zucchini, sliced and sauteed in sesame oil and salt

eggs, cooked over-easy

Gochuchang paste (recipe below)

1) Place desired amount of rice on the bottom of a bowl (individual bowl or serving bowl). Nicely arrange bulgogi and vegetables on top of rice. Place an egg on top of vegetables and drizzle desired amount of Gogchuchang paste.

When ready to eat, garnish with sesame seeds and sesame oil and mix all ingredients together.

Gochuchang paste

4 Tbsp. gochuchang (Korean red pepper paste)

1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

3 tsp. sesame oil

4 tsp. water

1) Combine all ingredients in a bowl until well incorporated.