Rice Month – Bibimbap (Redone)

Here’s another rice recipe….I say this conflictedly because I’m starting to get sick of rice….not that there’s anything wrong with bibimbap….I am currently in my confinement month and have been eating mostly Asian food that goes with rice. Under normal circumstances, my household would never eat rice 3 days in a row. To have to eat it like 3 weeks in a row…it’s starting to get to me. BUT, hopefully after the month is over, I would get over my aversion to rice as well.

I’ve done bibimbap before but I used like pre-bottled marinades and products to make it and somehow it just didn’t taste the same. So this time, I decided to make it from scratch as much as possible to achieve that authentic taste. Actually, I’m not sure what is an authentic bibimbap because basically it’s a bunch of ingredients topped on a bowl of rice. But one thing for sure, if there’s meat…it’s certain to be bulgolgi and an egg with a runny yolk in the centre.

I went out and got a tub of gochujang, the red hot pepper paste (actually it’s not screaming hot), the only Korean thing in the dish, the rest of the ingredients were pretty much common pantry staples. I love how it turned out. It tasted so much better. My only wish was that I had some kimchi with me at that time! 🙂

I will admit that I really didn’t know how to style this bowl of bibimbap….it’s like no matter what I do, it would not look like those in the shops, mainly because I didn’t have a hot stone pot and I kinda ‘chop’ my veges in a ‘cincai’ manner because I reasoned that everything will just be mixed together. But don’t let that put you off, it is an awesome dish to have if you want something hearty and comforting.

BIBIMBAP WITH BEEF BULGOLGI RECIPE

Ingredients; 

Cooked rice
Beef, lean and sliced
Carrot, shredded
Japanese zucchini, shredded
1 egg, fried
Sesame seeds for garnish

Stir-fried bean sprouts;
Bean Sprouts
Garlic, chopped
Fresh Shitake mushrooms, sliced
Oyster Sauce
Shaoxing Wine
Light Soy Sauce
White Pepper
Water

Marinade for Bulgolgi;
1 apple (Fuji or use Korean Pears), peeled and cored
1 thumb-sized ginger
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 teaspoon Sesame oil
1 teaspoon Sugar
2 teaspoons Gochujang (red, hot pepper paste)
1 onion, sliced
Scallons, chopped
Water

Bibimbap Sauce;
3 heaping teaspoons of Gochujang (red, hot pepper paste)
2 teaspoons Light Soy Sauce
1 teaspoon Rice Vinegar
1 teaspoon Sugar
1 teaspoon Sesame Oil
1 clove of grated Garlic
Water to dilute if it’s too thick

Steps;

1. Prepare the marinade for the bulgolgi. Put the apple, ginger and garlic in a processor and blitz till you have a paste.
2. Mix in the soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar and gochujang.
3. Placed the sliced beef in a big bowl together with the sliced onions and scallions. Pour the marinade over it and coat everything with your hands. Let it marinade overnight or for 3 hours.

Gochujang; Beef bulgolgi in its marinade

4. Cook the prepped bean sprouts in garlic and the following seasonings. Set it aside.
5. To make bibimbap sauce, mix all the ingredients together, taste and adjust to your liking.
6. Take out the beef bulgolgi and strain it of most of its watery marinade. Toss everything into a wok and stir-fry it till it’s cooked.
7. Get all your toppings together (below). Just before eating, fry an egg with the yolk still intact and runny (below).

8. To assemble everything together, scoop some rice into a bowl. Top with the egg first and then the bean sprouts, carrots, zucchini and bulgolgi on the sides.
9. Pour bibimbap sauce all over and scatter sesame seeds.

10. Here’s the messy fun part…just mix everything together with the rice and EAT (below).

Enjoy!