Bibimbap with Seasonal Vegetables
Bibimbap is less a recipe than a method of arranging: rice below, a wheel of separately seasoned vegetables above, and a sauce that pulls it all together at the first stir. Each namul is dressed on its own so it keeps its character. The crisp rice at the bottom of a hot stone bowl is the prize, but a regular bowl is honest too.
Ingredients
- 320g short-grain rice, cooked
- 150g spinach, blanched
- 150g bean sprouts, blanched
- 1 carrot, julienned
- 150g shiitake mushrooms, sliced
- 1 small zucchini, julienned
- 4 eggs
- 3 tablespoons gochujang
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
- Neutral oil, for cooking
- Sea salt, to season the vegetables
Method
- Dress the blanched spinach with a little sesame oil, a pinch of salt, and a few sesame seeds. Do the same with the bean sprouts in a separate bowl.
- Saute the carrot, zucchini, and shiitake separately in a little neutral oil, seasoning each lightly with salt. Keep them in their own piles.
- Stir the gochujang with the remaining sesame oil and a splash of water to make a glossy, spoonable sauce.
- Fry the eggs sunny side up so the yolks stay runny.
- Divide the warm rice among four bowls. Arrange the vegetables in separate sections over the rice like spokes of a wheel.
- Top each bowl with an egg, a generous spoon of the gochujang sauce, and a scatter of sesame seeds. Stir everything together vigorously just before eating.