Korean BiBimBap

Korean bibimbap is a signature Korean dish that literally means “mixed rice”. Bibimbap is served in a large bowl with warm white rice topped with sautéed and seasoned vegetables (namul) and chili pepper paste (gochujang). A raw or fried egg and sliced meat (usually beef) are common additions. The ingredients are stirred together thoroughly just before eating. -Wikipedia

Family Traditions

Bibimbap has always been one of my favorite Korean dishes growing up. My parents just threw it together with various Korean leftovers we had sitting in the fridge or whipped it up from scratch. Somewhere during my teen years, I got more sophisticated and whenever we’d go out to Korean restaurants, I’d order it up dol-sot style, which means “stone pot”. But mind you, it’s a pipin’ hot dol-sot that can cook a raw egg almost instantly and crisps up your rice in the most amazing way.

This dish makes frequent appearances at our family gatherings whether they be special occasions, holidays or just because. It’s always a fun time when we all gather around the table to eat, talk and spend time together. So many wonderful memories!

Now that I’m an “Epicurean Adventurer”, haha, it’s probably time to get an actual recipe together, though it won’t be easy. I would’ve been just fine never actually writing anything down like my parents, since I too just throw things together now, but after a few requests for the recipe, I thought to myself, I can do this! So thanks, Glenn, Damon and Madeline, for motivating me to finally make it happen!

Getting this recipe together was kind of a pain, though, since my parents never measure anything out, nor do they write stuff down. But now, hopefully any of you will be able to make it! It’s a darned good thing there’s such a thing as learning by osmosis because after years and years of just being around my grandma, parents and aunt cooking Korean food with very little attention paid on my part, when it came to actually making it on my own, it was almost like second nature. HOW COOL!

A Versatile, Healthy Meal

Before you begin, beware: Bibimbap is DELICIOUS so you will probably overeat, but luckily it’s full of veggies! It also takes some effort to make, so plan it out and do your shopping ahead of time. You can even make some things in advance so you don’t feel overwhelmed. See note in the recipe.

With all that, here’s the recipe! Keep in mind that bibimbap is a dish that’s pretty flexible that uses a variety of sautéed veggies. You can make it with or without meat, too, and both ways are still amazing. If you prefer to use brown rice, go for it! It’ll still be tasty. This recipe covers the key mix-ins and how-to’s and YOU can decide which ingredients to use!

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Korean Bibimbap Recipe

Course Main Course

Cuisine Korean

Servings 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

The traditional standards. Once you've made this a few times you'll come to learn what combinations YOU love best and will come up with your own standards.

• 2 cups uncooked SHORT grain white rice NOT long grain, basmati or jasmine, I'd roughly estimate about 2 cups of uncooked rice, cooked in a rice maker or a pot.
• Korean Beef BBQ aka Bulgogi or you can use already-prepared bulgogi from your local Korean Grocery store, but I highly discourage using the bottled bulgogi sauces you find in the regular grocery stores – bleah
• 16 oz shiitake mushrooms button or baby bella mushrooms great too
• 1 large zucchini julienned
• 2 bell peppers, any color sliced long and thin
• 1 generous handful bean sprouts
• 1 large onion sliced thin from top to bottom
• 2 medium carrots, julienned or 2 cups of pre-shredded carrots
• 16 oz fresh baby spinach
• 4-6 eggs one per serving
• Gochujang GOH-choo-jang – Korean spicy red pepper paste (found in Korean/Asian markets)
• Roasted sesame seeds
• Sesame oil
• Soy Sauce
• Black pepper
• Cooking oil I’ve been using avocado oil, but other oils work fine, too

Instructions

1. Cook rice in a rice maker or a pot, according to directions.
2. Rinse bean sprouts in water and boil in about a cup of water w/ a tsp of salt for about 20 minutes. Drain and toss with a dash of garlic powder and a couple sprinkles of sesame seeds
3. Grill/sautee/broil marinated bulgogi until browned. Break it up into smaller pieces while cooking or afterwards. Place in a bowl/dish/platter.

4. Saute sliced onions in cooking oil over med-high heat, with a just a dash of salt, garlic powder and sesame seeds. Place in a bowl/dish/platter.

5. Thinly slice mushrooms and saute in a little cooking oil over med-high heat, seasoned with a dash each of garlic powder, salt and some sesame seeds. Place in a bowl/dish/platter.

6. Saute carrots in cooking oil over med-high heat. Season with dash of salt and pepper. Place in a bowl/dish/platter.

7. Saute zucchini in cooking oil over med-high heat, with just a dash of garlic powder, salt, black pepper and sesame seeds. Place in a bowl/dish/platter.

8. Wash spinach, drain and saute in a little cooking oil. Season with a dash each of garlic powder, salt and sesame seeds. Place in a bowl/dish/platter.
9. Fry eggs anywhere from sunny side up to over hard, depending on what you can stomach 🙂

Recipe Notes

*Gochujang: You can buy gochujang from an Asian grocery store and use it as is. One thing my dad always does, and now so do I, is to jazz it up a bit. It also helps take a little bit of the kick out of the spice. Plus, it adds great flavor and even a little more goodness. Take about 1/2 cup of gochujang, add about 1/4 tsp of soy sauce and sesame seed oil, 1 Tbsps of wheat germ and/or ground flax seed (yes, that’s what I said) and mix well! Feel free to adjust any of these amounts to your liking.

*For quick bibimbap, I go meatless and use onions, mushrooms, zucchini, spinach and carrots. The gochujang and egg are musts unless you just don’t like them.

* Make ahead tips:

Prep the bulgogi and let it marinate in the fridge overnight.

You can make the Oie Muchim as early as a week in advance.

Cut up veggies like carrots, onions, zucchini & mushrooms and store, uncooked, in separate containers in the fridge until ready for use.

Prepping and Cooking Tips

You can see in the recipe that most of the veggies are prepared in the same way – sautéed in oil and seasoned lightly with salt, garlic powder and black pepper. Even though it’s tempting to just sauté them all together in one pan, my mom says DON’T DO THAT! And she means it. Believe me, I tried – haha. She says the taste of veggies will blend together too much if sautéed all at once and should be kept separate until it’s time to make your bowls. That of course takes longer, so to speed things up a bit, I usually have two cast iron skillets going at the same time. I use one pan to sauté the veggies that take longer like carrots, onions and zucchini and the other to do faster cooking veggies like mushrooms, spinach, and green peppers.

Check out my bulgogi recipe to make your own. It’s best to marinate this the night before and grill/cook it the day of.

My family loves to include Korean-style Spicy Pickled Cucumbers aka Oie Muchim, too. You can mix it right in or eat it as a crunchy, refreshing side.

If you’d like a second reference on how to make bibimbap, visit Maangchi’s Bibimbap Recipe. She’s of my go-to’s for Korean recipes. You can also learn how to add a very traditional namul, Fern Brake or gosari to your bowl. My parents make it all the time but it’s one I’ve never attempted to make because I personally don’t care for it but it’s supposed to be VERY good for you! ; )

The Spread

Most of the mix-ins of this meal are made one at a time, so I either place them in separate bowls or arrange them on a platter as they’re prepared. Be sure to drain excess liquids if you’re placing them all on one giant platter. Usually, my family and I just put them out on the island and just let them sit until everything is else is finished. But, if you prefer, you can place each bowl or the platter in the oven at about 175 degrees F to keep them warm until it’s time to eat.

Check out this crazy spread! Soybean sprouts and gochujang are on the bottom right corner and our rice maker is on the left. FYI: the oranges don’t go in the bibimbap!

Speaking of rice makers, this neuro-fuzzy logic rice maker isn’t very big but it makes AMAZING rice. It’s just like the rice you get at Chinese restaurants while only adding rice and water! But I can’t help but think that one day it’s gonna turn against us and take over all of the electronics in our house! lol. See the Amazon links below if you’re daring enough to get one for yourself! This is an older model and a new one is out, but both are still available for now.

By the way, this Luminarc Diwali Serving Dish is the BOMB! Just look how beautiful it makes all of my bibimbap mix-ins look! Plus it’s only ONE big dish to wash at the end of the night vs. a million smaller ones. You can also bake in it. I use it to make Chicago-style deep dish pizzas in and it’s the perfect size.

Serving Bibimbap

When you’re ready to dig in, take a good sized bowl and put about 3/4 cup of rice in it. Don’t put too much rice in it though, since this dish will get big fast, much like burritos. But instead of not being able to close your tortilla, you might have to unbutton your pants!

Add a little of each mix-in, top with an egg, drizzle a little sesame seed oil, and sprinkle some sesame seeds. Top it off with a smidge to a dollop of gochujang. For beginners, start with just quarter or half a teaspoon and then add more as needed. The redder it is the spicier it is. My husband takes great pride that his bibimbap is about 3 shades redder than mine. And it astounds us both that my parents’ are usually 3 times his! Yes, I’m a wimp.

How to Eat and Enjoy Bibimbap

At one family get together, as we were all eagerly mixing up our bibimbap, my mom told us that in Korean dramas, characters quite often mix up their bibimbap with lots of emotion and passion. They mix furiously while yelling at someone or complaining about this or mad at that. They pour all of their energy and emotions into mixing up that bibimbap! We all cracked up and then proceeded to mix ours as furiously as we could, while fake-grumbling about this and yelling about that. So, when YOU make this, be sure to put some emphasis into that mixing motion while you vehemently toss those ingredients together. I think it might just make it taste that much better! And use a BIG bowl so half of it doesn’t end of on the floor or table!

And now you’re ready to eat your bibimbap – FINALLY! Mix it up and enjoy! And in case your wondering what those wedge pieces are in the AFTER bowl below on the right, they are Korean pancakes (pajun), but that’s for another day.

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Christine, aka happyvballgirl : )

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