Bibimbap

If you frequent Korean restaurants, you’ve 100% seen this item on the menu in one form or another. This is one of many different versions. Historically it’s a quick meal that can be made in most korean households with left over banchan’s (korean side dishes), and rice. But i’m assuming you don’t have these side dishes at the ready so i’ve gone ahead and made the breakdown for some super easy accoutrement.

Some of the most common banchan’s are pickled cucumbers, cabbage/kimchi, bean sprouts, daikon, and much much more.

The best part about this dish, is it’s an amazing option if your vegan/vegetarian and looking for something to spice things up. Even if you aren’t, I promise you won’t even notice the missing meat from this dish!

It’s a great recipe to practice your knife working skills, as there’s a good amount prep work but as far as difficulty goes this recipe is definitely towards the lower end of the difficulty spectrum, but can be time consuming if you don’t have any of these already in your fridge. But you can easily make this in large batches and honestly devour it throughout the week.

A traditional dolsot

Now for serving, this is optional but highly encourage, and honestly worth investing in because I used this pot a lot more than just for bibimbap. This is called a dolsot (돌솥; literally "stone pot") or gopdolsot (곱돌솥; literally "agalmatolite pot") is a diminutive piece of cookware or serveware made from agalmatolite, suitable for one to two servings of bap aka rice.

The key to this recipe is having all of your prep work done in advance, cook your meat and eggs last, and most importantly is to use this as an opportunity to practice your tasting skills. Your pallet and mine can be completely different, what’s too salty for me might be under seasoned to you or vice versa. Each side dish here can be amended to suit your preferences, just use the following ingredients list as a guideline and taste and tweak as you like. Give it a try, and let me know what you think!

Bibimbap - Korean Mixed Rice - Ingredient Breakdown:

Steak Marinade:

• 1 lbs steak (any cut) 

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar

• 1 tablespoon sesame oil

• 2 teaspoons minced garlic

• 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger

• 2 teaspoons gochugaru

Soy Bean Breakdown:

• 1 pound soybean sprouts

• ¼ cup sesame oil

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce

• 2 tablespoons Korean chile powder

• 2 teaspoons sesame seeds

• 1 ½ teaspoons garlic, minced

• ¼ cup chopped green onion

• 2 teaspoons rice vinegar, or to taste

Cucumber Breakdown:

• 1 cucumber 

• 1 Tbsp soy sauce 

• 1 Tbsp rice vinegar

• 1 Tbsp sugar

• 1/2 tsp Korean red chili powder

• 1 1/4 tsp sesame seeds

Spinach Breakdown:

• 8 ounces spinach

• 1 garlic clove, minced

• 1½ teaspoon soy sauce

• 1½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil

• 2 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

• A little gochugaru if you like it spicy 

Serve with a fried egg, kimchi, and gochujang sauce