A one-stop bowl for all your nutritional, taste and aesthetic needs, bibimbap is a colourful pot of various stir-fried, crunchy vegetables arranged on seasoned, steaming white rice with a creamy orange fried egg in the middle. In Korean, ‘bibim’ means mixed and ‘bap’ means rice, and this beloved dish is a favourite nationwide in South Korea for using up any vegetables side dishes at home. And it is super fun to make because it's pretty much customisable to one's tastes.
Preparation time: 50 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves: 1
Ingredients
- 200 gms or 1 bowl of steamed rice
- 100 gms minced beef
- 50 gms carrot
- 50 gms cucumber
- 50 gms bean sprout
- 50 gms lettuce
- Sesame oil (to taste)
- Vegetable oil
- 1 egg
Red chili paste sauce mix or gochujang mix:
- 2 tbsp gochujang
- 1 tbsp corn syrup
- ½ tbsp sesame oil
Beef sauce (optional):
- 1½ tbsp soy sauce
- ½ tbsp sugar
- ½ tbsp minced garlic
- ½ tbsp sesame oil
- Pepper (to taste)
Method
Step 1: Thinly slice the cucumber and zucchini, julienne the carrots into thin strips and cut the lettuce into bite-sized pieces.
Step 2: Here, if desired, mix the beef sauce and marinate the beef for 10 minutes.
Step 3: Blanch the mung bean sprouts in boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes and run under cold water to retain the fresh crunch of the vegetable.
Step 4: In a frying pan, stir fry the carrot and zucchini briefly with a pinch of salt in vegetable oil, then set aside on a plate.
Step 5: Stir fry and cook the minced beef for 8 to 10 minutes fully, adding salt to taste.
Step 6: Place the stone pot for bibimbap on the stove with the heat set at low. Coat the bottom of the stone pot or your bibimbap bowl with sesame oil and pack the steamed rice into the bowl.
Step 7: Then, arrange the vegetables side by side on top of the rice, circling the pot – you should have carrots, zucchini, cucumbers, blanched bean sprouts and lettuce.
Step 8: Finally, place the fried meat onto the rice and add strips of dried seaweed to the bowl.
Step 9: Fry an egg sunny-side up on a pan, then layer it on top of your rice and vegetable dish.
Step 10: Sprinkle sesame oil onto rice according to taste, and add a swirl of the mixed paste of red chili paste (gochujang), corn syrup and sesame oil on top of everything else.
Step 11: Mix all together, garnish with more seaweed if preferred, and serve with varieties of kimchi such as radish and cabbage, and stir-fried zucchini or hobak bokkeum.
