BiBimBap is basically a bunch of leftover prepp'd vegetables over rice, with a little beef & a fried egg on top & spicy red pepper paste poured all over it. (In restaurants, they usually give you a squeeze bottle of it with your order!) Korean households (or restaurants) love making this because it's so easy and it tastes delicious. Vegetables that are commonly used are carrots, zucchini, spinach, shiitake mushrooms, and sprouts, but you can use anything! It's often served in a sizzling stone bowl, which causes the rice to heat up and form a crispy layer on the bottom. Then, you can mix it around, and if the bowl is hot enough, another crispy layer forms! Also, sometimes the egg is not cooked, so you can cook it by mixing it around! Just be careful not to burn the rice. Here's a few pictures:
They both look delicious, don't they? The first one is served in the traditional stone bowl; the second one not. The egg is not fried in either of them. They include the traditional vegetables along with fernbrake (the dark brown stuff), lettuce, cucumber, a few types of kimchi, and others.
Welllll, I had plenty of vegetables but none of them were prepped, sadly. So it was not as easy to make as it is supposed to be. But that's okay; I had all afternoon!
2 medium carrots
1 yellow zucchini
1 bunch Chinese spinach
1 bunch pickled banana blossoms
1 cup bean sprouts
1 cup napa kimchi
fresh garlic
anchovy sauce
sunflower oil
sesame oil, to taste
1/3 lb. ground lamb
brown rice
black rice
beans
Directions: Soak the rice and beans overnight, then drain, rinse, cover with water and place in the rice cooker.
While the rice is cooking, properly wash and scrub the fresh vegetables. Julienne the carrots and zucchini. Slice the banana blossoms. Crush the garlic. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil. Immerse the carrots in the water until slightly tender (about 1 minute); remove. Immerse the zucchini in the water for about 30 seconds; remove. Immerse the spinach in the water for about 30 seconds; remove. Put 1 tbsp sunflower oil in the skillet; add 1 tbsp fish sauce and stir-fry the bean sprouts for about a minute and the banana blossoms and garlic for about a minute. Set aside all the cooked vegetables.
Use the vegetable water to stir-fry the ground lamb (or any other meat you wish, or you may make it completely vegetarian). Set aside.
When the rice is finished, put in a round bowl and mix with sesame oil. I didn't have a sizzling bowl, so I just used a regular bowl and it worked fine. Then, arrange the vegetables and meat in a circular pattern. Also include the napa kimchi. When you are finished, fry an egg and put it in the center. The result:
BiBimBap: So Good.
Voila! Besides tasting good, one of the things I love about this dish is how colorful it is; everything is represented. Even the rice (which you can't see) ended up being a deep purple because of the black rice used. The vegetables are, clockwise starting at around 9:00: yellow zucchini, red napa kimchi, white banana blossoms, orange carrots, ground lamb, white bean sprouts, and green Chinese spinach. And, of course, the fried egg in the middle. I used banana blossoms here, which are almost never found in BiBimBap, but one of the great things about this dish is it works with just about any vegetable. It's also not commonly made with lamb (almost 100% of the time it's either made with beef or vegetarian; in rare instances chicken or a seafood mix), but again, the spirit of this dish is to use up what you have. I also didn't have the red pepper paste, which would have made it even better (so a trip to Galleria Korean market is in store) but I guess that just means I'll have to make it again soon! :-)
DNA
