Why is Bibimbap my first posting?

Bibimbap is probably the most well-known Korean dish after Bulgogi.  

Bibimbap is literally mixed rice. You have a bowl of rice and you mix it with something else. Voilà, you’ve got yourself a bibimbap. It can be that simple. On the other hand you can have a bibimbap with 30 ingredients or even more.

 

This is only one version of Bibimbap. I always try to prepare five different ingredients of five colours: white, black, red, blue, and yellow. These five colour composition is called Obangsaek (오방색). These colours represent five elements of universe, five organs of a body, five tastes, five…… etc. One could write a doctoral dissertation on this philosophy.

The recipe here is what I prepare today to give you an idea. The colours I mean here is not exact colours but hues, so radish sautéed and egg white for white, mushroom and meat for black, carrot for red or yellow, egg yolk for yellow, courgette (zucchini) for blue(green), red pepper coloured radish pickle for red. You can choose your own ingredients bearing in mind the five colour composition. It is fun and you are eating a whole universe in a bowl.
 

 

Bibimbap (2 serves)

 

200g (1 cup) rice, 300ml water, 200g white radish, 80g carrot, 100g courgette, 20g dried black oak mushroom, lukewarm water, 100g ground beef, 2 eggs
seasoning: 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp white vinegar, 1 tsp soy sauce, 3 tsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp chilli paste, salt, pepper, vegetable oil, sesame seeds.

 

 

 

 
How to cook rice in a pot: Wash the rice two or three times, Put it in the pot add water. Bring it to boil (around 5 minutes). Reduce the heat to very low, and put the lid on. Cook for 15 minutes, then turn off the heat and let it for 10 minutes.

Preparation:

1. Wash the mushrooms and soak them in lukewarm water until they are soft.

2. Cut the radish in julienne. Sprinkle 1/4 tsp salt and mix. Set aside until it sweats.

 

3. Cut the carrot and courgette in julienne.

 

 

 

4. Squeeze the radish (2) to get rid of water. Put the half of the portion in a bowl, season with chilli powder, sugar and vinegar. Set aside the other half.

5. Drain and squeeze the mushrooms (1) to get rid of excess water. Cut them in julienne. Season it with little bit of soy sauce and sesame oil.

6. Season the ground beef with 1 tsp soy sauce and 1 tsp sesame oil plus some pepper.

Cooking:
1. Fry eggs “sunny side up”.

2. Stir fry with little vegetable oil the other half of radish, take out of the flame and sprinkle with little sesame oil.

3. Stir fry courgette, carrot, mushrooms and meat.

4. Stir fry the chilli paste with 1 tsp of sesame oil. Add 2 tbsp of water. Stir fry well then put out of the flame add another 1 tsp of sesame oil. Put in a small bowl and sprinkle with some sesame seeds.

Setting:
Put the rice in a bowl, arrange the vegetables and meat on the rice in a circle and put the fried egg in the centre . Serve the chilli sauce on the side.

 

Tips:

Cut in julienne -> you can use a mandolin or a grater.

Red pepper powder->paprika powder

Red pepper paste sauce -> 1 tbs soy sauce + 1 tsp balsamic vinegar + 1 tsp sesame oil

 

Why not?

Serving a Bibimbap is usually in a bowl but why not to put in a dish? It is easy for anyone to mix, or there is no way to eat separately.

 

 

In addition if you use a dish-washer, your DISH-washer can washes dishes a lot more and better than bowls.