Recipes
Where I live, it’s about a 30 minute drive to the nearest Korean food restaurant. Anything past a 20 minute drive is “far” in my book, after all, it only takes me 12 minutes to get to work and 15 minutes to get to the airport! I know, I’m pretty spoiled with my commute, but I like it that way. Anyhow, back to food, the other day I was just craving Korean BBQ so we made some bulgogi (marinated beef top sirloin) and decided to be a little healthier by using it in a rice dish with a bunch of veggies. So there comes Bibimbap (such a cute name for food, huh?). This dish has a great array of mix-ins and is best when served with Korean red pepper paste to give it some heat. Mmmm boy. I wish I could have some more right now!
Bibimbap (recipe taken from Maangchi)
Ingredients:
- Cooked rice
- a package of bean sprouts
- a bunch of spinach
- 2 small size of zucchinis
- 5-7 Shiitake mushrooms
- fern brakes (kosari) – i did not use
- 200 grams of ground beef (about half a pound) – i used bulgogi instead
- 1 small carrot
- eggs – i did not use
- soy sauce, hot pepper paste, garlic, sesame seeds, sesame oil, and vegetable oil
Recipe:
Arrange everything on a platter.
- Cook rice. You can use a rice cooker or a stainless pot.
- Next, you need to prepare a large platter to put all your ingredients on. Rinse your bean sprouts 3 times and put them in a pot with a cup of water. Add 1 ts of salt and cook for 20 minutes. Drain water and mix it with 1 clove of minced garlic, sesame oil and a pinch of salt.
Put it on the platter. - Put your spinach in a pot of boiling water and stir it for a minute. Then rinse it in cold water a few times and squeeze it lightly. Mix it with a pinch of salt, 1 ts of soy sauce, 1 clove of minced garlic and sesame oil. Put it on the platter
- Cut 2 small size zucchinis into thin strips, sprinkle them with a pinch of salt, and then mix them together. A few minutes later, sauté them in a pan over high heat. When it’s cooked, it will look a little translucent. Put it on the platter.
- You can buy soaked and cooked “kosari” at a Korean grocery store. Prepare about 2 or 3 cups of kosari for this 4 servings of bibimbap. Cut it into pieces 5-7 cm long and sauté in a heated pan with 1 ts of vegetable oil. Stir and add 1 tbs of soy sauce, 1/2 tbs of sugar, and cook them for 1-2 minutes. Add sesame oil. Put it on the platter. (I did not have kosari on hand.)
- Slice shitake mushrooms thinly and sauté with 1 ts of vegetable oil. Add 2 ts of soy sauce and 1 or 2 ts of sugar and stir it for 2 minutes. Add some sesame oil, and put it on the platter.
- On a heated pan, put some oil and 200 grams of ground beef and stir it. Add 4 cloves of minced garlic, 1 tbs of soy sauce, 1/2 tbs of sugar, a little grounded black pepper, and sesame oil. (We used homemade bulgogi meat!)
Put it on the platter. - Cut a carrot into strips, sauté it for 30 seconds and put it on the platter.
- Prepare eggs with sunny side up. (I left this out.)
- Put your rice In a big bowl, and attractively display all your vegetables and meat. Place the sunny side up egg on the center.
- Serve it with sesame oil and hot pepper paste.
- Lastly, mix it up and eat!
This was the PERFECT dish to practice my food photography with all the great textures and colors from the variety of foods. Food photography is still a dream of mine. Anyone know how I can get a freelance gig in it? Did I make you drool? 😉
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