Have you ever tried Bibimbap before? Bibim means ‘mix’ and bap is ‘rice’ is Korean. A dish created with the intention to use up all the leftover rice, meat and vegetables before they spoil by mixing them together with a spicy sauce. It’s cheap and a great way to eat more vegetables and get rid of leftovers. With that said, feel free to use whatever vegetables or meat you have on hand.

There are 2 ways to enjoy bibimbap: there’s bibimbap and dolsot bibimbap. ‘Dolsot’ is Korean for the stone bowls that’s commonly used in Korean restaurants. Serving bibimbap in a dolsot gives you the option to heat up the bowl and subsequently creates a crispy layer of rice, adding another textual element to the dish. If you do not have a stone bowl, the traditional mixing method is just as delicious!

Ingredients

Beef Bulgogi:
250g beef, sliced into strips
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2tbsp soy sauce
1tbsp sugar
1tbsp sesame oil
Black pepper 

Sauce:
2tbsp gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)
1tbsp sugar
1tbsp garlic, minced
1tbsp sesame oil
2tsp sesame seeds, optional

Other Ingredients:
400g cooked rice, preferably short-grain
1 carrot, peeled and julienned
1 zucchini, julienned
2 handfuls spinach
1 handful bean sprouts
5 large shiitake mushrooms, sliced
2 eggs, fried
Sesame oil
Roasted seaweed, optional
Salt

If you’re vegetarian, replace the meat with tofu or just use more mushrooms!

Method

Cook your rice, if you haven’t already. This works well with leftover rice too.

Prepare beef: combine all the ingredients for the beef bulgogi in a bowl and leave to marinate while you prepare other ingredients.

Make sauce: mix together all the ingredients for the sauce and set aside

Prepare vegetables: In a pot of boiling water, blanch the bean sprouts and spinach separately and then dump the spinach in ice cold water to stop the cooking process and retain its colour. Squeeze the spinach of excess water and season with salt and sesame oil. Season the bean sprouts with salt and sesame oil as well.

In a pan with some sesame oil over medium heat, stir fry your carrot, zucchini, mushrooms separately until cooked through. Season to taste. 

In the same pan, cook the marinated beef. Set aside.

Assemble: there are 2 options – dolsot (making the rice crispy) or normal bibimbap.

• Dolsot: brush your stone bowl with sesame oil and place some rice inside a bowl. Carefully arrange the vegetables, meat and mushrooms next to one another to cover up the rice. Place the sauce in the center and top a fried egg on top. Over medium heat, heat up your rice bowl for approximately 5-10 mins or until the rice on the bottom is nice and crispy. Crush roasted seaweed on top, mix and serve.
• Normal: Same as dolsot but without the sesame oil and heating process. Mix and serve immediately.