Easy Cooking: Bibimbap

Well, it appears I have been a VERY lazy mom. I haven't blogged in a very long time, and our trip to the East entries have stopped at Day 3.... well, I'll just summarize. Days 4-8 were great. We strolled around NYC, lost a couple more things, bumped into Samuel L. Jackson (okay, i didn't 'bump' into him, he was behind a fence for some event, but I saw him), discovered a very delicious bakery, and tried to re-create scenes from Disney's Enchanted.

You can expect that I will probably have the same amount of laziness with our next trip, to the real East. We're going to Hong Kong, and instead of being ambitious and attempting to be a good blogger, I'll just set your expectations low. And if you get a photo here or there - then consider yourself all caught up in my lazy, yet crazy busy with nothing, life.

Okay. On with the actual blog - Bibimbap. You ask what this is? it's basically a Korean mixed vegetable & rice dish. I just had a craving for it the other day, and it just seems that all the Korean and Thai restaurants in Vancouver think it's okay to charge $15 for their dishes of rice and/or noodles... so I went on a mission to just make it at home.

The only thing with this dish though, is that you HAVE to have the gochujang sauce (the red suace - red chilli paste in the soybean paste). It's what makes it... Korean. I had to go to H Mart to buy it - even T&T didn't have it.



Here are the ingredients - but in good old LM fashion... i don't measure anything.

bean sprouts (the bigger kind, not the dinky little ones)
spinach
shiitake mushrooms (sliced thinly)
carrots (julienne)
zucchini (sliced thinly)
eggs
rice
meat (can be ground, or sliced pork or beef)
sesame oil
soy sauce
garlic
korean bulgogi sauce
gochujang suace

a big bowl/platter to put all the cooked items on (part of this dish is about presentation, but really you will just mix it all up before you eat it...)


1. marinade the meat in the bulgogi sauce



2. mince up a whole lot of garlic

3. boil off your bean sprouts, when they're done sprinkle salt, sesame oil, and garlic in it. set aside on the platter.



4. boil the spinach, and when they're done a little soy, sesame oil, garlic - onto platter.

5. I have a wok, but if you don't just use a frying pan - fry off the carrots with a little garlic, sesame oil - and put on the platter.

6. do the same with the zucchini and mushrooms - hope you're getting the drift...


7. I fried off the eggs before the meat because that meant I didn't have to wipe down the wok after the meat (which is saucy) before frying the eggs.

okay, so your platter should be full of veggies, your riced cooked, and now it's just all about assembly. put all the clumps of veggies on top of your bowl of rice, put some gochujang sauce in there, a fried egg and meat on top.

dig in - mix it around, and it's a heavenly blend of happiness in your mouth.



Yes - I actually lied too a little - it's not really 'easy', and it's quite labor intensive with all the prep work - but it's easy in the sense that the ingredients aren't crazy, and the method of cooking is quite user-friendly. A healthy meal too - for kids and adults alike!