Bibimbap, Korean Rice Bowl

Published on August 10, 2020 | By
bibimbap

Bibimbap is a traditional Korean rice bowl topped with vegetables, a protein, such as beef, chicken or tofu, a fried egg and a fermented red pepper paste, gochujang. “Bibim” means mixing and “bap” means rice. That is exactly what happens when you make a bowl of bibimbap and add the sweet and spicy red pepper sauce. You get to break the egg yolk and then mix all of the ingredients together with the rice and experience the sublime tastes and textures of earthy mushrooms tossed with sesame oil and rice vinegar, contrasted with  hot Korean pepper paste, tart and crunchy pickled carrots and cucumbers and whatever else you choose to include in your mixed up rice bowl.

Typically, a bibimbap, a one bowl meal, requires separate preparation of each ingredient. The recipe can look a little daunting because it is rather long. However, you will find that the preparations are repetitious and simple and usually involve seasoning with basic ingredients such as tamarind or soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, green onions and a little garlic. I like to sauté most of the vegetables. I pickle the carrots and cucumbers to maintain their texture and sweetness.

In my version of bibimbap, I use mushrooms, green onions, cucumbers, spinach and bean sprouts. You can also include or substitute squash, especially zucchini, radishes, peppers  and other seasonal vegetables.

I lightly marinate the protein in a marinade of rice vinegar, honey, soy sauce and sesame oil and flavor with garlic and green onion. If you are preparing the vegetarian version, bake or sauté the tofu so that it is firm. You can easily make your one bowl bibimbap vegetarian or vegan by omitting the meats and substituting tofu and by omitting the egg for the vegan version.

A short grain brown or white rice works well for this rice bowl. You can either purchase ready made gochujang at your local grocery or specialty store or make your own. I ordered the ground red Korean peppers and made a sauce in 5 minutes in the processor with white miso and tamari. You can find this recipe here. The gochujang is delicately spicy and very earthy and enhances the vegetables and rice and eggs perfectly.

    • Prep Time
    • Minutes
    • Cook Time
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Ingredients

  • 2 cups of cooked rice, preferably brown and short grained
  • 2 chicken breasts, skinless, boneless, cut into strips
  • 1 English cucumber, peeled, seeded and cubed
  • 12 shiitake mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
  • 1 bunch of fresh spinach
  • 2 green onions, sliced at an angle
  • 1/2 cup of mung bean sprouts
  • Marinade for chicken:
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced
  • 1 TBSP green onions, chopped
  • 1 TBSP soy sauce
  • 2 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 TBSP honey
  • 2 tsp rice vinegar
  • To pickle the carrots:
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1/3 cup of rice vinegar
  • 1/3 cup of water
  • Other ingredients for sautéing vegetables:
  • sesame oil, green onions, garlic, rice vinegar, tamari, cooking oil
  • sesame seeds
  • 4 eggs, 1 per person, fried
  • Gochujang sauce:
  • 4 TBSP gochujang
  • 3 TBSP water
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 TBSP soy sauce

Instructions

  1. Cook the rice and set aside. Make the marinade for the chicken: In a small bowl whisk the sesame oil, soy sauce, honey and rice vinegar together. Add the chopped green onion and the minced garlic. Cut the chicken breasts into strips and place in the marinade. Allow the chicken, or whatever meat or tofu you choose to marinate, for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Cut the carrots into matchsticks. Mix the ingredients for pickling the carrots in a small bowl. Add the carrots and allow them to pickle for an hour or more. These can be made the day ahead if you like.
  3. Cucumbers: I usually cube the peeled and seeded cucumbers and then marinate them in a little sesame oil, rice vinegar, and then add a chopped green onion and minced garlic and sesame seeds.
  4. Each of the other vegetables should be prepared separately. This is usually done by sautéing in a little cooking oil. You can add garlic, a bit of chopped green onion, tamari or soy sauce. There is no set measurement for ingredients and it is typical to prepare many of the vegetables in the same manner.
  5. Once all of the vegetables are cooked, set them aside separately and sauté the chicken in a little cooking oil and the marinade. Place the skillet over medium heat. Remove from heat after about 6-8 minutes when the chicken pieces are cooked through.
  6. Gochujang sauce: In a small bowl, combine the gochujang paste with the water, sesame oil and soy sauce. Whisk until smooth. If you want it to be sweeter or more tart, you can add honey and a little rice vinegar. Adjust according to your taste.
  7. To assemble the bowls: Divide the rice into 4 portions. Mound the rice in the center of a large, deep bowl. Place the cooked vegetables artfully around the rice. Next cook the eggs. I like to fry them sunny side up. Place the fried egg on top of the rice.
  8. Sprinkle the sliced green onions and the sesame seeds on top of the vegetables. Then divide the bean sprouts among the 4 bowls. Drizzle each bowl with the gochujang sauce and then place the bowl on the table for guests to serve more as needed. Spicy and earthy and oh so good. Bibimbap, the mixed up rice bowl.
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