Bibimbap

7 min readAug 31, 2021

….Bibimbap is a signature Korean dish. It simply translates to “mixed rice with meat and assorted vegetables”. Usually I make bibimbap that is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with seasoned vegetables, meat, and gochujang. But my husband JOHN likes hot bibimbap in an earthenware bowl - “hot pot”. So I’m going to show you bibimbap prepared and served in heated earthenware bowl called dolsot-bibimbap. This is well-known for the way the bowl makes a layer of crispy, crackling rice on the bottom of the bibimbap. Even though we mix up bibimbap before we eat it, the different ingredients aren’t random. They’re chosen because they balance and harmonize each other. JOHN ate the whole bowl because it stayed warm the entire time he was eating it, and then he ate the scorched rice as well….

Servings: 4

Time: 1 hr 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup beef, sliced
1/2 lb spinach namul
3 cup zucchini, sliced
2 cup bean sprouts
3 egg plants, cut 4 pieces of each
2 cup fernbrake, soaked with cold water for 30 minutes
2 Ts Mat-Gan-Jang
1/2 cup water
2 ts + 2 ts mixed fish sauce(gukganjang: fish sauce: tuna sauce=1: 1: 1)
2 ts sugar
black pepper to taste
1/2 ts sea salt
1 ts chili pepper
1 Ts +1 Ts +1 Ts +1Ts avocado oil
1/2 Ts Mirin
1/2 Ts plum extract
1 Ts soy sauce
2 ts + 2 ts+2 ts +2 ts +2 ts toasted sesame seeds
2 ts + 2 ts + 2 ts +2 ts +2 ts sesame oil
1/2 Ts+1 Ts +1 Ts +1 Ts +1 Ts green onion, minced
1/2 Ts +1 ts +1 ts +1 ts+1 ts garlic, minced
2 ts salted shrimp sauce
4 cup steamed rice
4 eggs
1/2 cup kimchi, sliced(this is optional)
gochujang to taste

Cooking Instructions:

Marinade the beef, sugar, black pepper, Mirin, plum extract, soy sauce, 2 ts toasted sesame seeds, 2 ts sesame oil, and 1/2 Ts green onion into a bowl and mix well evenly. Set aside.

2. Heat a pan with medium high heat and 1 Ts avocado oil and marinated beef to stir fry them for 2–3 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside.

3. Heat a pan with medium high heat and add 1 Ts avocado oil and zucchinis to stir fry them for 1–2 minutes.

4. Add the salted shrimp sauce and garlic into the pan to stir them 1–2 minutes until softened.

5. Add the green onion, sesame seeds and sesame oil into the pan and stir them 30 seconds. Turn off the heat and set aside.

4. Heat a pan with medium heat and add 1 Ts avocado oil, water, and fernbrake into the pan to stir them for 1– 2 minutes.

5. Add the Mat-Gan-Jang, mixed fish sauce, 1 ts garlic, 1 Ts green onion, and 2 ts sesame seeds into the pan to stir them for 4–5 minutes until the moisture is gone.

6. Sprinkle 2 ts sesame oil into the pan and turn off the heat. Set aside.

7. Heat a pot with high heat and add 4 cup water to boil. Parboil the eggplants into the pot for 2- 3 minutes.

8. Take out the eggplants onto a tray and cool down.

9. After cooling down, tear the parboiled eggplant one bite size by hand. Squeeze the parboiled eggplant softly.

10. Mix the parboiled eggplant, 2 ts mixed fish sauce, 1 ts garlic, 2 ts toasted sesame seeds, and 2 ts sesame oil into a bowl well gently and set aside.

11. Heat a pan with medium heat and add 1 Ts avocado oil into the pan.

12. Add the bean sprouts, sea salt, 1 ts garlic, and 1 ts chili pepper into the pan to stir them until softened for 2-3 minutes.

13. Add 1Ts green onion, 2 ts toasted sesame seeds, and 2 ts sesame oil into the pan to stir them 30 seconds. Turn off the heat and set aside.

14. Put some steamed rice into a dolsot bowl and put the namuls, kimchi(this is optional), and stir fried meat on top of the rice. Heat the dolsot bowl with low heat.