Home-Style Bibimbap
A colourful rice bowl topped with sautéed vegetables, a fried egg and a gochujang sauce. Mix it all together and dig in — comfort in a bowl. Bibimbap simply means mixed rice, and it began as a way to clear the kitchen of whatever vegetables were left, each one cooked separately so it held on to its own colour. The whole pleasure is contrast: hot rice, cool vegetables, a runny yolk and a spoon of spicy sauce.
Prep time20 min
Cook time25 min
Total time45 min
Servings2 servings
DifficultyMedium
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked rice
- 200g spinach, blanched
- 1 carrot, cut into thin strips
- 1 zucchini, cut into thin strips
- 150g bean sprouts
- 2 eggs
- 200g ground beef (optional)
- 2 tbsp gochujang (Korean chili paste)
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
Instructions
- 1Cut all the vegetables, cook the rice and set out the sauces before you turn on the heat. The bowl is assembled in minutes and there is no time to chop halfway through.
- 2Blanch the spinach in boiling water for 30 seconds, then rinse it under cold water and squeeze it hard with your hands until no more water drips out.
- 3Sauté the carrot in a little sesame oil over medium heat for 2 minutes until just tender, season with a pinch of salt and tip it onto a plate.
- 4Cook the zucchini next, then the bean sprouts, doing each one separately in the same pan and wiping it out between batches so the colours stay clean.
- 5Dress the squeezed spinach with a little sesame oil and soy sauce and toss it with your fingers so the leaves separate.
- 6If using, fry the ground beef with the soy sauce over high heat for 3-4 minutes until browned and slightly crisp at the edges.
- 7Fry the eggs in a hot oiled pan for 2-3 minutes, until the white is fully set but the yolk still wobbles. A lacy, crisp edge on the white is a bonus rather than a fault.
- 8Divide the warm rice between two bowls and arrange the vegetables and beef in neat sections on top. Add the egg and a spoonful of gochujang, scatter over the sesame seeds, and mix everything together at the table.
Tips
- Cook each vegetable separately so they keep their own colour and texture.
- The crispier the egg, the better the finished bowl.
- Add more or less gochujang to control the heat.
- Squeeze the blanched spinach properly dry. Wet spinach will leave the rice at the bottom of the bowl sitting in water.
- If you have a stone or cast-iron bowl, heat it for 5 minutes and brush in a little sesame oil before the rice. The rice crisps against the hot sides and you get the crackling crust that makes dolsot bibimbap.
