Bibimbap Recipe: Korean Mixed Rice Bowl and Its Story

Full transcript

Annyeong, yeoreobun! Yul here. Today, a dish that looks like a painting. Bibimbap! Bibim means mixing, and bap means rice. Mixed rice.

There are many stories about where it comes from. One says that on the last night of the lunar year, families mixed all the leftover side dishes with rice, so they could start the new year fresh. Another says farmers ate it in the fields because it was quick. And the most famous version comes from the city of Jeonju, a food capital of Korea.

Let's make a simple one at home. Prepare a few vegetables, each cooked separately. Spinach, blanched and seasoned with sesame oil and salt. Bean sprouts, the same way. Carrots and zucchini, cut thin and stir fried. Shiitake mushrooms, fried with a little soy sauce. Add some bulgogi beef if you have it.

Put warm rice in a big bowl. Arrange each topping in its own section, like a color wheel. Put a fried egg in the middle, sunny side up.

Now the sauce: two spoons of gochujang, one spoon of sesame oil, one spoon of sugar, a little vinegar, and sesame seeds.

Yul's tip! Don't eat it pretty. Mix it hard! Use a spoon, not chopsticks, and mix until every grain of rice is red. And if you can, try dolsot bibimbap, served in a hot stone bowl. The rice at the bottom gets crispy. That crispy part is the best. Masitge deuseyo!