Korean cuisine had slowly gained its popularity in recent years. I am always so intrigued by how Koreans set the table so nicely with an array of side dishes put together with its main dish. It is indeed so aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. Korean mixed Rice – bibimbap was probably the very first Korean dish I tried, and I LOVED it. It has a spicy kick with a tinge of sweetness, and the vegetables give a crunchy texture with every bite making it so fun to eat!

Bibimbap is a rice bowl topped with a variety of vegetables and a drizzle of the red pepper paste (gochujang).  The Korean word “bap” meant rice and “bibimbap” simply meant Mixed Rice. So, it is a must to mix all the ingredients well before eating it to get a mouthful of all different ingredients in a scoop!

It was said that Koreans used to eat bibimbap on the eve of the lunar new year. This is because they wanted to clear the leftover foods and adding whatever they can find in the kitchen to their rice bowl, mixing it up and consider that dinner. This is probably why there are no fix ingredients in bibimbap. We could tailor this meal to our liking by adding our favourite vegetables and protein. Bibimbap is truly a meal for everybody! Hurray!

Just so you know, Korean cuisine is also considered one of the healthiest cuisine in the world. It emphasizes a lot on vegetables and fermented food and studies have shown that having a regular consumption of the Korean diet, helps diabetic and hypertensive patients to improve glycaemic control and reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases! So, what are you waiting for? Let’s get cooking!

Easy Korean mixed rice – Bibimbap

Serves: 4      Prep Time: 30 Minutes

Ingredients 

• 2 small carrots grated
• 2 cucumbers grated
• 8 shitake mushrooms thinly sliced
• 1 bag of spinach (~200g)
• 2 cups of brown rice (or your prefered type of rice)
• 4 eggs (sunny-side up)
• sesame oil (in small amounts)
• 2 clove garlic
• canola oil (in small amounts)

Ingredients for dressing (makes 2 – 3 serves)

• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds (optional)
• 2 tablespoon gochujang (red pepper paste)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon crushed garlic
• 1/2 – 1 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil

Preparation:

1. To cook the brown rice as per the instructions on the packaging.
2. Heat up the pan to medium-high heat.
3. Stir fry the grated carrots with small amounts of canola Oil first then drizzle sesame oil lightly till cooked. Clean the pan.
4. Do the same for the grated cucumbers and sliced shitake mushrooms, separately.
5. To prepare the spinach, heat the pan to medium-high heat. Drizzle it with canola oil and add in the garlic. Stir fry till fragrant and add in the spinach. Stir fry till spinach softened and cooked.
6. Set the cucumbers, mushrooms, spinach and carrots on the side. (separate them into 4 parts)

To ensemble the bibimbap:

1. To add 1 fistful portion of rice and place it at the bottom of the bowl.
2. Add 1 portion of each vegetable (cucumbers, mushroom, spinach and carrots) on top of the bed of rice.
3. Place 1 sunny-side-up egg on top of the vegetable pile.
4.  Lastly, drizzle on 1 – 2 teaspoon of the red pepper dressing over the rice.
5. Just right before you dive into your meal, give it a good mix.

I hope you enjoyed this simple yet delicious recipe for the Korean Mixed Rice – bibimbap! Thus, if you would like to try out a similar meal like so, perhaps you may want to check out the recipe for Nasi Ulam too!

Nutrition Facts:

Per serving:  357 calories; 16 g fat; 43 g carbohydrates; 12 g protein; 4g fibre

Carbohydrate Servings: 3