Ah, the quintessential dish of Korea. Being of Korean heritage, this dish was a staple of mine that my mom used to cook up quite frequently and dare I say easily!
What is Bimbimbap?
Bimbimbap is rice bowl with seasoned vegetables, egg, meat and topped with a chili paste sauce. Most of the vegetables are sauteed with sesame oil, garlic and sesame seeds. The chili paste is used almost like a dressing for the rice and vegetables to be melded together, making it a very flavorful meal.
Living in Colorado, it can be quite challenging to find the traditional ingredients for a classic bimbimbap so I usually use whatever vegetables I have on hand. I tend to reach for the essentials – carrot, zucchini, spinach and red bell pepper. If I’m feeling more fancy, I usually add in soybean sprouts if it’s available at the American grocery store.
Ingredients
The below recipe will yield approximately 4 servings
- 2 cups of uncooked short grain rice –> produces about 4 to 5 cups of cooked rice
- 1 – 2 loose carrots
- 1 red bell pepper
- 2 zucchini
- 1 bunch of spinach (or 9 oz bag of spinach)
- 3 Persian cucumber or 1 English cucumber
- 3 green onion stalks
- 4 eggs (1 for each serving)
- optional: 2-3 cup soybean sprouts
The condiments:
- Korean hot pepper paste (known as ‘gochujang’)
- cooking oil (toasted sesame oil recommended)
- toasted sesame seeds
- garlic
- soy sauce
- sugar or honey
- vinegar (rice or apple cider vinegar works)
- salt
Directions
- Rinse the rice until water runs clear
- Cook the rice according to directions (tip: set a timer)
- While rice is cooking, prepare the vegetables by rinsing them and cutting the following vegetables julienne-style or thin ways, approximately 2-3 inches long: carrots, bell peppers, zucchini
- For the spinach, give it a good chop in preparation to blanch them
- Bring a pot of water to boil and blanch the spinach for 2 mins and optionally, the soybean sprouts can be blanched on medium heat for 30 mins
- Once spinach and optional soybean sprouts are done, set aside
- Now, it’s time to cook the rest of the vegetables. Saute each vegetable separately on the same pan with cooking oil on medium high heat for the following times:
- Carrot – ~2 – 3 min (until carrots are cooked)
- Zucchini – ~1 min (saute with pinch of minced garlic)
- Red bell pepper – 1 min
- Cucumber – 30 sec (saute with pinch of minced garlic)
- Note: each of the vegetables are cooked separately (for presentation purposes).
- Next, let’s get to seasoning the spinach and soybean sprouts – mix blanched spinach with a drizzle of sesame seeds and mix sprouts with a sprinkle of salt and minced garlic
- Make the bimbimbap sauce by mixing the following together: 3 tbsp of gochujang, 1.5 tbsp of toasted sesame oil, 1.5 tbsp of honey or sugar, 1.5 tbsp of water, 1 tbsp of vinegar, 0.5 tbsp of garlic
- Chop up green onions for topping
- For the final ingredient fix in, pan fry the eggs, sunny-side
- Arrange cooked rice in bowl with all the seasoned and cooked vegetables with a tablespoon of gochuchang. Top with the fried egg and green onions
Helpful Notes
- Cutting vegetables to equal width and length ensures for evenly cooked vegetables
- I found that it’s easiest to have 2 separate pots and 1 pan on the stove at once – one for blanching vegetables, another for cooking the rice. Single pan should be used for stir frying the vegetables
- To store away for later, all vegetables can be refridgerated for later use. Rice should be stored separately so that it can be heated up prior to serving
The Journey
The below are the ingredients used for the recipe
Chopstick and Spoon 
Leave a comment