Easy Korean Bibimbap

    Being a host family has introduced us to many types of Asian food. The Korean student who boards with us now told my husband and I that he had eaten some bibimbap at a Korean restaurant in town.  We asked him to describe it, and it sounded so good that I went online to find out how to make it.
   
     Like usual I compared about two or three sites and then came up with a mixture of directions and ingredients!  This is from About Korean Food and serious eats.  As Wikipedia states, bibimbap means mixed meal in Korean.  It is one of the most popular Korean dishes in Korean cooking. If you're gluten free like me, you'll have to check at the Asian market for some gluten free kochujang paste.  I think if you can't find it you can just top your bibimbap with some Sriracha and sesame oil.  This is a picture I took of our Korean student's bowl. 

Easy Korean Bibimbap - for 4

1.  Prepare meat:  Rinse 1/2 pound of flank or top sirloin and cut into 1" strips.

2.  Make a marinade:  Combine 2 T tamari, 3 T sesame oil, 2 t sugar, 1 clove of minced garlic, and 1/2 t of grated ginger.  Put beef in the frig to marinade for at least 30 minutes.

3.  Put rice in rice cooker.

4.  Prepare vegetables:
     1.  Slice 1 large cucumber into thin strips and add 
enough water to cover, sprinkle  with 1 t of salt  and cook for 20  minutes and then drain.
     2.  Cut 2 carrots in julienne strips and put into a bowl.
     3.  Rehydrate 4 shiitake mushrooms in a glass bowl.  
     4.  Cut 1 zucchini into thin strips and put into a bowl.
     5.  Wash 1 1/2 cups of spinach and put into a bowl.
     6.  Rinse 1 1/2 cups of bean sprouts and put into a bowl.

5.  Cook vegetables- You will cook each of these separately except the cucumber and then put them on a serving platter covered with foil to keep them warm:
     1.  Saute the carrots in 1 T sesame oil.
     2.  Saute mushrooms in 1 T sesame oil.
     3.  Saute zucchini in 1 T sesame oil.
     4.  You will parboil the spinach and squeeze it out and mix it with 2 t sesame oil.
     5.  You will parboil the bean sprouts and drain, mix with 2 t sesame oil.

6.  Stir fry the beef:  In a separate pan stir fry the beef in 2 T of  coconut oil until done.

7.  Cook eggs:  When you are cooking your last vegetable and the beef is almost done, put another skillet on the stove with about 1-2 T of butter and cook your eggs until they are set but still a bit runny.

8.  Arrange the bibimbap in your bowl - In the bottom of your bowl put in this order:
                     1.  Rice
                     2.  Beef strips
                     3.  Vegetables - in different groupings
                     4.   Egg

7. Serve with gluten free kochujang paste (red pepper paste) and sesame oil.   Each person can take as much as they like to put on top.

    Our student told us the Koreans like to take all of this and mix it all together, but I didn't do that. I wanted to savor all the tastes.  This is an incredible meal and it would be a lot of fun to cook it with a group of people.


Other Korean Recipes on this blog:

Bibimbap

Korean BBQ Chicken

Jap-Chae

Bulgogi Rice Bowl