"Clear out your fridge" Bibimbap

Clearing out your fridge...

doesn’t mean you have to make another soup or omelet for dinner! I love making Bibimbap - it’s simple, healthy and packs a lot of flavor. I have to give credit to Maangchi, my Korean Youtube angel, who has unknowingly guided me in this vast Korean-food-less desert that is Zurich. (Ok, there’s a couple of restaurants, but nothing that compares to LA’s K-Town.) Check out her YouTube channel for tons of delicious recipes! https://www.youtube.com/user/Maangchi

I will give you my version of bibimbap. I always just freestyle with whatever needs to be used up in my fridge but the most important thing is that you use a wide variety of colorful ingredients…

Yellow - Egg (or corn or yellow bell pepper)

Green - Zucchini and Spinach (or broccoli, salad leaves, whateva you got)

Brown - Shiitake mushrooms (or marinated tofu, any other mushrooms)

Red - carrots (orred bell pepper, kim chee)

Meat - Soy and Sugar marinated ground beef (or ham, diced pork, left over chicken or omit all together!)

Steps:

1. Cook rice! Rice is soooo important here - and another major issue in Zurich. Asian restaurants here, whether it’s Chinese, Thai or Vietnamese use Thai Jasmine Rice…This is really a crucial error for Chinese, Korean or (especially!) Japanese food. Bibimbap requires a short-grain rice. This will turn more plump and slightly stickier than Jasmine Rice. It’s a really important part of the experience. In Zurich, short grain rice is not easy to find, even in the Asian supermarkets. I always go for sushi rice. The Korean supermarket Yumi Hana has a really nice selection of premium quality short grain rice, very pricey, but worth it. So shiny and delicious!

2. If you’re including a meat or ground beef, marinate this in a dash of soy sauce and sugar.

3. Make your bibimbap sauce. Mix 1tbls Gochujang pepper paste with 2tsp sugar or honey, 2tsp soy sauce, 2 tsp sesame seeds, and 1 minced garlic clove  

4. Prep your veggies. Carrots and zucchini should be julienned, mushroom sliced, meat diced. Just everything should be generally in small, bite sized amounts.

5. Cook each ingredient separately to ensure that each is cooked to the correct doneness. Veggies should be cooked but still crunchy.

6. If you have a clay pot, add some sesame oil to it and start heating it up. Once hot, add your cooked rice to the bottom. (You can also just use a normal bowl, but it won’t have the delicious crunchy rice at the bottom). Then add each ingredient around in a circle. Top with green onions, a sprinkle of roasted seaweed, a raw egg yolk (it will cook with the hot ingredients) and your bibimbap sauce. Mix it up and enjoy!!