Bibimbap with Marja Vongerichten
After going out for Korean barbecue, Marja shows the kids how to make Korean food at home.
Article By: Theresa DiMasi and Lisa Chernick
Korean-cooking expert and host of The Kimchi Chronicles on PBS, Marja Vongerichten shows the kids how to make bibimbap at home.
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Bibimbap (Rice Bowl)
Adapted from The Kimchi Chronicles (Rodale)
Made completely from scratch, bibimbap can seem like a lot of work, but it’s much less labor-intensive if you think of it as a vehicle for reinventing leftovers. Bibimbap is actually much like a chopped salad — a dish that magically makes use of all the odds and ends in your vegetable bin — in the form of a rice bowl. For dolsot bibimbap, a variation that has a signature (and addictive) crust on the bottom, it’s traditionally made in a Korean stone pot, but you can certainly use a cast-iron pan instead. Additionally, you can enjoy bibimbap as a cold dish made with room-temperature rice and toppings, all bound together with the bibimbap sauce. Treat the ingredients listed below as a recommendation — the world is your rice bowl.
Serves 3 generously*
7 PointsPlus® values per serving**
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp gochujang (red pepper paste)
- 6 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 2 tsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp roasted sesame seeds
- 1 handful dried seaweed, any kind you prefer
- 2 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 2 large handfuls baby spinach leaves
- 1/2 small zucchini, cut into long matchsticks
- Coarse salt
- Small handful fresh bean sprouts
- 1 1/2 cups cooked rice
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup leftover bulgogi, optional**
Instructions
- Whisk together red pepper paste, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, vinegar, and sesame seeds in a small bowl. Set sauce aside until serving (it will keep, covered, in fridge for 1 week).
- Cover seaweed with cold water and let it sit for at least 10 minutes.
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Meanwhile, bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a small saucepan. Place shiitakes in a small heatproof bowl, ladle 1/2 cup of boiling water over them, and set aside for 10 minutes to soften. Add spinach to the boiling water and cook until bright green and completely wilted, not more than 1 minute. Drain spinach and rinse with cold water to stop it from cooking any further. Squeeze spinach to remove as much of the water as possible and set aside. Drain shiitakes, slice off and discard stems, thinly slice caps and set aside.
- Heat 2 teaspoons of sesame oil in a small nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add zucchini and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring now and then, until zucchini is just tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Set zucchini aside.
- Heat another tablespoon of sesame oil in same skillet, add bean sprouts and a pinch of salt, and cook, stirring now and then, until bean sprouts are lightly browned and a bit limp, about 3 minutes. Set bean sprouts aside.
- Drain seaweed and roughly chop it. Heat 2 teaspoons of sesame oil in same skillet, add seaweed, and cook until it wilts, stirring now and then, about 4 to 5 minutes. Set the seaweed aside.
- Meanwhile, heat a stone pot or a small cast-iron skillet over high heat for at least 5 minutes. Pack rice into the hot pot or skillet and leave it over flame for 2 minutes. Carefully take it off heat, cover, and let sit for 5 minutes (this will help it develop its signature crust).
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While rice is resting, heat remaining 1 teaspoon sesame oil in same small nonstick skillet. Add egg and cook until it’s cooked to your preference (I like mine quite runny). Uncover rice and place fried egg on top and then arrange seaweed, shiitakes, spinach, zucchini, bean sprouts and bulgogi in small piles around egg. Eat by adding as much of the reserved sauce as you’d like and mixing everything together. (Bibimbap translates to mixed rice!)
** Notes from WeightWatchers.com
- When calculating the PointsPlus values for this recipe, we:
- Made it serve 3 (rather than 1, as in the book).
- Used 6 teaspoons of oil (rather than 5 tablespoons, as in the book).
- Did not include leftover cooked bulgogi.