Cheat's bibimbap

We love bibimbap! (^^)

That's rice topped with vegetables, egg and meat (optional), and special sauce (gochujang), served in a hot stone / earthenware pot. And it's really easy to replicate at home.. plus minus a few ingredients (^^||).. well mostly minus, in my case.. so here's my easy and fun take on bibimbap..  cheat's way (^^)

spicy hot gochujang.. i like!

First, you MUST have gochujang (korean hot chili pepper paste), the main ingredient for making bibimbap. You can easily get gochujang in korean marts as well as some better stocked supermarkets. I have only tried and trust Haechandle (pronounce hae-chan-deul) brand, which contains no MSG. I love that it's piquantly spicy hot, yet a bit sweetish too.

Next, you MUST have rice. Best if you have japanese / korean short grain rice. They are the fluffiest, yummiest staple that god created (^^)! I used a mix of brown and white long grain rice for "healthier" reasons. (^^||)

best quality sesame oil

And more importantly, a good bottle of sesame oil too. It's the make-or-break ingredient for bibimbap!

Then you can start assembling whatever ingredients you can find in the fridge to make your bibimbap.. could be anything.. spinach, cucumber, carrots, bean sprouts, toasted seaweed, sliced cooked shiitake mushrooms, ferns (?!).. whatever is available.. If using greens, do blanch them before using. If using cucumber or carrots, julienne finely. As you can see, I only have cucumber, carrots and seaweed (^^||)..

You are now ready to prepare your bibimbap. Mix all the ingredients, rice, veggies, toasted seaweed, 1 tablespoon of gochujang and 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, together. And don't forget the egg (raw, sunny side-up, poached, well done..) now (^^||). I don't recommend using any raw eggs at home, unless you are using a hot stone pot like the ones they use in the restaurants. Season to taste with more gochujang or sesame oil if you like. Mix well, and lunch or dinner is served (^^)!

Oh yes, if you are not too lazy, and want your bibimbap to be AWESOME.. add some cooked minced beef. You can cook your meat any way you like. I stir fried mine with some soy sauce, minced garlic, sliced shallots, diced yellow onions, grated ginger, sesame oil and a pinch of salt (season to taste).

messy mix.. just trying to keep things real (^^||)

So bon apetit! .. serve with a long handle korean spoon, of course! (^^)