Get creative with Chef Charne’s Korean bibimbap

Trust the Koreans to convert the basic rice bowl into a meal admired worldwide! With a kaleidoscope of seasoned sautéed vegetables and the iconic fried egg, this recipe for bibimbap by Capsicum Culinary Studio closes the deal.

Cook time: 30 mins | Servings: 2

Ingredients

• 2 cups uncooked white rice (can be substituted with brown rice or quinoa)
• 1 cup spinach
• 1 medium size white onion sliced
• 2/3 cup zucchini – shredded or cut into half moons
• 2/3 cup soy bean sprouts
• 2/3 cup carrots – shredded
• 2/3 cup cucumber – cut into half moons
• 2/3 cup dried bellflower root, also called “doraji” in Korean – thinly sliced
• 2/3 cup dried fernbrake, also called “gosari” in Korean (can be substituted with eggplant)
• 1 cup shiitake – sliced
• 1 or 2 eggs (optional)
• 1 tsp sesame seeds – crushed
• 1 clove of garlic – minced
• Hot sauce to taste
• Sesame oil
• Cooking oil unflavored (we suggest grapeseed oil)
• 1 tsp Soy sauce
• Salt

Method

1. Start this overnight: Prepare the dried fernbrake by boiling it in water for 30 minutes. Let cool down. Once it cools, rinse with water and soak overnight. This will allow for the flavour to loosen up a bit and not be as strong. When you don’t soak it, the flavour can be bitter.
2. The next day: Drain the water and remove all excess water. Over medium-high heat, cook the fernbrake in oil.
3. Add in half of the minced garlic and add in soy sauce. Optionally, you can add a pinch of sugar to offset the saltiness from the soy sauce. Cook for 2-3 minutes until it’s cooked through.
4. Soak dried bellflower root in cold water for two hours.
5. Remove from water and sprinkle with salt. Squeeze out the excess water and then rinse with cold water. This removes the salt and leftover bitterness from this root.
6. Sautee on the stove. Drizzle the pan with an unflavoured cooking oil, add in half of your minced garlic. Cook through all together and leave a bit of al dente firmness to it.
7. Cook the rice: The general rule for cooking white rice on a stove is to have a 1:1.5 ratio – one cup of rice to 1.5 cups of water. Let the rice soak in the water for 20-30 minutes.
8. Cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes until the water is boiled through and the consistency is what you’re looking for. Turn the rice over in the pot a few times to make it “fluffy” and remove from heat and let sit.
9. Put the washed soy bean sprouts in a pot and add water with a pinch of salt. Cover the pot and boil on medium heat. Once the sprouts are boiling, turn off the heat and remove the sprouts from the water.
10. Blanch the spinach on the stove, sprinkle with crushed sesame seeds, and mix in a pinch of sesame oil. Mix all of these together and let sit.
11. Cook the carrots in unflavoured oil, lightly salt. Remove from heat and let sit.
12. Using the same pan, cook and salt the rest of the veggies individually.
13. Use a wet paper towel to wipe down the pan between veggies, so that the flavours and colours don’t combine just yet.
14. Plating: Start with the cooked rice in the centre of a bowl and use 1/3 of each veggie for each serving. Try to even out the colours so that two green vegetables aren’t next to each other, just for presentation purposes.
15. To taste and for additional flavour, you can add in your favourite hot sauce and then just mix up the whole bowl and enjoy!