One of my first published recipes: bi bim bap. It’s a Korean dish with a whole bunch of assorted vegetables served with rice topped with a runny fried or poached egg. I took inspiration from a few recipes, including one from maangchi and Korean Bapsang.
This includes a list of the vegetables I’ve used and how I prepared them. Depending on what I have on hand I may not use all of them – the ingredient list is more of a guide. The quantities I’ve listed make enough for two people if you use everything. Maybe one day I’ll get my photographer husband to take some pictures while I cook and I’ll share them here.
Ingredients
1 cup uncooked rice
Sauce
- 1/4 c. Gochujang red pepper paste
- 1 tb Sugar
- 1 tb Sesame oil
- 2 tb Peanut butter
Main Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1 cucumber
- 2 scallions
- 1 zucchini
- About 1/3 to 1/2 lb. any hearty green (kale, spinach, collards, etc.)
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 1/4 lb assorted mushrooms
- 2 carrots
- 1/2 lb ground beef
Assorted Seasonings
- Soy sauce
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Sugar
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Sesame oil
Make rice. While it’s cooking prepare the vegetables and sauce.
Make sauce: Mix together the sauce ingredients with 3 tb water. Whisk until smooth. Now make as many or as few of these vegetables as you want.
Start a pot of water boiling — you’ll need this for the kale in a few steps.
Take two eggs out of the fridge. Cooking them later will be easier if you let them come to room temperature.
Combine 1/3 to 1/2 pound ground beef with 4 cloves minced garlic, 1 tb soy sauce, 1/2 tb sugar, black pepper, 1/2 tb sesame oil.
Slice half an English cucumber or 1 regular cucumber (seeded) about 1/4 inch thick. Chop a few scallions. Toss together in a small bowl with a heavy pinch of salt and set aside.
Slice 1 small to medium size zucchini. Toss with a pinch of salt in a small bowl and a teaspoon of ginger and set aside. Boil kale, spinach, or other dark, leafy green until wilted (about 3-4 minutes). Drain. In a bowl, toss with 1 tsp soy sauce and 1 clove minced garlic.
Slice one small to medium sized onion and saute in vegetable oil until soft and light brown. Set aside in a small bowl.
In the same pan, saute the zucchini that’s been sitting in salt until it just barely starts to soften. You may need to add a little more oil here or for any of the following vegetables. Be careful – the zucchini can overcook fast and turn muushy. Set aside in small bowl.
Mushrooms – either a large handful of enoki mushrooms cut loose from their root or about 7-8 shitake mushrooms, stems removed & thinly sliced. Saute for 1-2 minutes. Set aside in small bowl.
Julienne two carrots and saute until soft; set aside in small bowl.
Cook seasoned beef in same pan until browned & thoroughly cooked. Set aside.
Poach or fry two eggs until the whites are just barely set and the yolks are still runny. My method is to do them one at a time. I take a small non-stick frying pan and add just a touch of oil. Break one egg into a small bowl. When the pan is hot, pour the egg from the bowl into the pan. When it just starts to set, add about 3 tablespoons water, cover the pan and lower the heat. In a couple of minutes you’ll have something that’s in between a fried and poached egg.
Now it’s time to assemble. Start with rice in the bottom of two bowls. Add half of each of the ingredients on top of the rice, in their own little clusters. Top with the poached egg. Drizzle on the sauce. This may not be authentic, but I also sprinkle on some furikake or just sesame seeds.
To eat, break the yolk and let it mix into the sauce & vegetables. Be sure to get some vegetables and rice in every bite. Enjoy!