Simple Vegetarian Bibimbap (Korean Mixed Rice)

I simply love bibimbap! Whenever I go to a Korean restaurant, I would usually get their bibimbap. I love how the meat and vegetables are arranged accordingly over hot Japanese rice, and it tastes just as appetizing as it looks.  Just remember to mix all the ingredients with the gochujang sauce (red pepper sauce)! The first time I had bibimbap I did not know I was supposed to mix all the ingredients together with the gochujang sauce. Silly me.

There are many  recipe variations for making bibimbap. Usually, bibimbap would consist of one type of meat, an egg, and various vegetable toppings. The vegetable toppings are varied from place to place, but I find that zucchini, carrots, bean sprouts, spinach and mushrooms are very common toppings.  Sometimes it’s topped with a sunny side up egg or a raw egg yolk. Bibimbap can be served over a plain bowl or stone bowl (dolsot). I prefer the stone bowl version because the rice gets crispy at the bottom and it’s usually topped with a raw egg yolk that gets cooked as you mix the bibimbap (I think it’s creamier with the raw egg yolk). Here’s a simplified vegetarian  version of how I usually make bibimbap at home. I don’t have a stone bowl, but this one is good enough to recreate one of my favourite Korean dishes at home.

– Ricelessasian

(oh, the irony of my name!)

Bibimbap (serves 2)
Adapted from Maangchi

Ingredients

2 – 2 1/2 cups of cooked Japanese rice
Half a bunch of spinach
1/2 cup julienne-cut carrots
1/2 cup julienne-cut zucchini
1 1/2 cup bean sprouts
4-6 button mushrooms
4-6  shiitake mushrooms
1/4 cup nori strips
2 eggs (one egg for each bowl)
Cooking oil
Sesame oil
Soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Toasted sesame seeds for garnish

Directions

1. Cook spinach over boiling hot water for about 1-2 minutes. Rinse cooked spinach with cold water and squeeze the excess water with paper towel. Add a splash of soy sauce and sesame oil to the spinach. Add some salt if desired. Set spinach aside.
2. Cook bean sprouts over boiling hot water for about 2-3 minutes. Drain cooked bean sprouts. Add a splash of soy sauce and sesame oil to the spinach. Add some salt if desired. Set bean sprouts aside.
3. Stir-fry carrots, zucchini, and mushrooms independently. Season with salt and pepper. Set the stir-fried vegetables aside.
4. Cook sunny side up egg.
5. In a large bowl, place about a cup of cooked Japanese rice. Arrange vegetable ingredients and nori strips accordingly. Top with the sunny side up egg. Garnish with sesame seeds.

Gochujang sauce

For the gochujang sauce, I halved the amount of ingredients from this recipe. Instead of using honey, I added about 1/2 – 1 tsp of finely grated garlic.

To eat bibimbap, mix everything together with the gochujang sauce. Adjust the amount of gochujang sauce to your liking. Serve with a side of kimchi if desired.

The universe favours an increase in entropy and so does your bibimbap!

Alternatively, you can serve bibimbap already mixed in. I used my heart and star shaped rice molders for a fancy presentation.