Korea Life and Cultures

Every time my family has an event, I make sure and collect some of all the leftover banchans. =P I love that my family that lives less than two miles away. Anyhow, bibimbap is SUPER easy to make…if you have all the ingredients. I would *never* go about and try to make each and every ingredient by myself because, quite frankly, I’m lazy. However, on days like this when all the banchans are already at my disposal, I can whip up bibimbap in less time it would take to make a gook or jjigae.

Ingredients Needed:

• 1.5 CUPS cooked rice
• 1/4 cup each of gosari, spinach moochim, doraji, moo bokeum (or moo che), kongnamool, mushroom bokeum, beef (bulgogi, galbi, or you can skip meat and make it vegetarian), cucumber moochim
• 1 Egg
• Bibimbap Sauce: 2 TB red pepper paste, 1.5 TB sprite (or 7-UP), 1.5 TB honey powder, 1 TB rice wine, 1.5 TB sesame seeds, 1/2 TB sesame oil, 1/2 TB vinegar, 1/2 TB minced garlic

I used a dol sot to heat up the rice AND to make some nooreungji (crispy rice) on the bottom. You can skip the butter, but I like adding a little just to give the rice a little extra flavor. =P



Fry an egg, sunny side up. Some people will add a raw egg directly to the steaming hot dol sot, but I’m squeamish when it comes to raw eggs unless it’s soondooboo.



Doraji and Gosari. I know I don’t have a recipe for these two up yet (will post soon!), so you can just skip these. Or, if you already know how to make it…go for it!

Moo Bokeum, Konamool Moochim, and Spinach Moochim.

It was perfect coincidence that I happened to have the cucumber banchan on hand already.

Once the butter is melted, add about 1.5 CUPS of cooked rice. I splashed some sesame oil and sesame seeds on it and then mixed it around and left it on LOW heat so the bottom could get nice and crispy without burning.

Then I took some the leftover galbi and heated it up in a pan and cut it into small strips.

Get your bibimbap sauce ready! This is 2 TB red pepper paste, 1.5 TB sprite (or 7-UP), 1.5 TB honey powder, 1 TB rice wine, 1.5 TB sesame seeds, 1/2 TB sesame oil, 1/2 TB vinegar, 1/2 TB minced garlic

Place the cooked egg on top of the rice and then arrange all your veggies like so. I had a screaming Munchkin yelling for food, so I wasn’t able to take a picture of the mushrooms, but I did sauté two sliced mushrooms in some sesame oil and added it there as well. I just used regular white mushrooms, but if you have Shitake mushrooms – use those!

I used eight items in my bibimbap today.

Clockwise from the top: gosari, kongnamool, moo, cucumber, beef, mushrooms, spinach, and doraji. You can add sautéed carrots, or squash, and a whole array of other veggies. Just use what you have! No worries. I should have added some gim as well, but I totally forgot. Oops.

Add the bibimbap sauce to YOUR taste. I made it a little milder so Munchkin could share this with me. I stored the leftover sauce so that we can eat this again in the next couple of days.

Mix it around and you’re ready to eat! Munchkin liked this so much today that he said, “Can we save some for later too? I want to eat it again.” =) Hope everyone had a great weekend! I will be back later in the week with *new* recipes.

Currently in the works: Shik-Hae, Mook, and a Galbi Jjim update.