Bibimbap
The name means "mixed rice", yet the dish arrives untouched — the vegetables are arranged in distinct piles and mixed only at the table. That is not just aesthetics: each vegetable is seasoned differently, and keeping them apart lets everyone mix them in their own proportions. Stirred together in the kitchen, bibimbap becomes a uniform and far duller dish.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Rice 25 min
- Vegetables 30 min
- Beef 10 min
- Building the bowls 10 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneCook the rice and keep it hot
Rinse the rice several times until the water runs almost clear, cover with 500 ml water and bring to the boil. Cook covered over the lowest heat for 15 minutes, take off the heat and leave 10 minutes without lifting the lid. The rice must be hot at the moment of assembly — it is what warms the vegetables, which are prepared in advance and will have cooled by then.
Ingredients: 400 g rice · 500 ml water · 4 pcs eggs · 4 tbsp sesame oil · 3 tbsp sesame seeds · 3 tbsp neutral oil
Season each vegetable separately
Cut the carrot and courgette into thin matchsticks, slice the mushrooms and chop the garlic. Prepare the vegetables namul style: spinach blanched 40 seconds and squeezed, sprouts boiled 3 minutes, carrot fried in a little oil for 3 minutes, courgette 4 minutes, mushrooms 6 minutes with 1½ tablespoons of soy sauce. Season each separately with a pinch of salt, a little sesame oil (2 tablespoons in all), garlic (3 cloves) and sesame seeds. Everything together takes about 30 minutes.
Ingredients: 300 g spinach · 250 g bean sprouts · 250 g carrots · 250 g mushrooms · 250 g courgette · 4 cloves garlic · 3 tbsp soy sauce · 1 tsp salt
Separate bowls, separate seasoning — not overkill.Marinate and fry the beef
Toss the beef strips with the rest of the soy sauce (1½ tablespoons), a tablespoon of sugar, the last clove of garlic, chopped, and a tablespoon of sesame oil and leave 15 minutes. Fry in very hot oil over high heat for 3 minutes, no longer — thin strips toughen instantly.
Ingredients: 300 g beef · 2 tbsp sugar · 4 tbsp gochujang · 1 tbsp rice vinegar · 200 g kimchi
Loosen the gochujang sauce
Mix the gochujang with the last spoonful of sesame oil, the rice vinegar and a spoonful of sugar. Straight from the tub it is very thick and intense — loosened, it spreads through the whole bowl instead of sitting as a lump in one place.
Ingredients: 300 g beef · 2 tbsp sugar · 4 tbsp gochujang · 1 tbsp rice vinegar · 200 g kimchi
Bed the rice and arrange radially
Divide the hot rice between bowls and arrange the vegetables and beef on top in separate piles, radially, colours side by side. Green next to orange, white next to brown. It is the arrangement by which bibimbap is recognised, and it lets whoever is eating see at once what is in the bowl.
Ingredients: 300 g spinach · 250 g bean sprouts · 250 g carrots · 250 g mushrooms · 250 g courgette · 4 cloves garlic · 3 tbsp soy sauce · 1 tsp salt
Separate piles, colours placed side by side.Fry an egg and set it in the centre
In the remaining oil, fry the eggs with crisp edges and a runny yolk and set one in the centre of each bowl. Add a spoonful of gochujang sauce alongside. Serve with kimchi and mix only at the table, in front of whoever is eating.
Ingredients: 400 g rice · 500 ml water · 4 pcs eggs · 4 tbsp sesame oil · 3 tbsp sesame seeds · 3 tbsp neutral oil
A runny yolk — once mixed it becomes part of the sauce.
Before you start
Dolsot bibimbap
The version served in a heated stone bowl brushed with sesame oil. The rice against the sides fries into a crisp layer called nurungji, which many consider the best part of the dish. The bowl of rice is set over a burner for a few minutes until the rice starts to sizzle; serve it on a wooden board — it is extremely hot.
Vegetables a day ahead
Namul keep for two to three days in the fridge in separate containers. That is why in Korean homes bibimbap is often assembled from what is already in the fridge — and then it is a fifteen-minute dish.
How much gochujang
A tablespoon per bowl is the starting point. The paste is hot, sweet and very salty at once, so it easily takes over the whole bowl. Serve more on the side and let everyone judge for themselves.
