The well known options around Asian cuisine in America are dominated by Chinese, Japanese and Thai restaurants. One unfortunate side effect is that the amazing food from Korea gets crowded out. My favorite Korean recipe is easily the workhorse dish of the country – the Pad Thai of Korea, if you will – BiBimBap with Beef Bulgogi. It’s a combination of grilled, marinated beef, vegetables, rice and a fried egg. On the side is this awesome spicy red sauce that’s sort of like a slightly sweet and subtler Sriracha.
The best part is that it’s not too hard to make at home
Fortunately, there are numerous Asian fusion restaurants that reach slightly from their cultural charter into other territories. A place with both a bowl of udon noodles as well as panang curry on the menu. This is the type of place where I first discovered (what is sometimes written as) bi-bim-bop. It was the tender, slightly sweet, marinated beef that was crispy on the edges that hooked me right away. I also liked how it came with a generous portion of vegetables and short grain brown rice. The egg on the side and the spicy sauce simply put it over the top.
Years later, my wife and I discovered a neighborhood restaurant called “Korean Buddhist Vegetarian Cuisine” that served bibimbap in sizzling hot stone bowls. Another nearby restaurant called it “Michael Jackson’s favorite”. I never understood that one, but they still did a great job with it.
Overall, it’s a very simple looking dish, though it requires more prep than most dishes, depending on how precise you want your vegetable cuts to be. I tend to spend more than most on the prep as I enjoy the challenge of getting every carrot matchstick to be a uniform size and length. That aside, you’ll also need to allow at least 2 hours to marinade the beef.
I do make a few changes from the traditional preparation. First, I don’t use sprouts. There are too many incidents of food borne illness involving sprouts, so I stay away unless I’m making them myself. Second, I don’t use mushrooms. So what’s left? I put a focus on seasonal vegetables that will cook and chill well. Here I used carrots, snap peas, spinach and cucumbers.
Unlike nearly every other Asian sauce (e.g. peanut sauce, teriyaki sauce, ponzu sauce and pad thai sauce), I have yet to find this anywhere in a bottle. This recipe here is adapted from the cookbook Modernist Cuisine At Home and was their Korean BBQ Wing Sauce.
While making it yourself isn’t that hard, the problem is that the key ingredient in it may be hard for you to find. It’s called gochujang and is a paste made from from fermented peppers, rice and soybeans. Alone, it’s pretty tough to eat. Mixed with other ingredients like garlic, soy sauce and sugar and it magically transforms into sort of a spicy korean ketchup. Try it with waffle fries.
Kimch, on the other hand is something you should probably buy – until you’re adventurous enough to try making it at home. A traditional kimchi preparation usually involves putting the cabbage and peppers into a terra cotta pot to pickle, burying it underground and waiting several weeks. I’m sure there’s a shortcut here somewhere. One is to buy it already made.
Total time:
1 hour 30 mins
Yield: 4 servings
Beef Bulgogi Marinade
Spicy Red Sauce
Rice and Vegetables
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Looks great, Tony! If I ever get around to purchasing Kimchi or Gochujang, I'll be sure to try it. Seems simple enough as long as you're willing to find the ingredients and do all the prep. My recent post Savory Cottage Cheese Bowl with Mini Tomatoes, Cucumber & Avocado
This looks fantastic!
Thank you, Alicia!