Eat Pip-Life

What I Cooked On The Weekend: Bibimbap

October 17, 2017
How to make Bibimbap

One of the good things about going through difficult times is that it teaches you what matters most. For me, it’s making stuff, quiet time – and time with family and close friends. And pets. Them too. And also food. Yep.

Edited to note: I always have kimchi in my fridge, and eat it every day,  but one of my kids HATES the smell of it, so I didn’t include it in the family feast for kids!  (I eat MINE when that kid is not about!) x

So on the weekend the kiddos came over in the evening and I spent the afternoon making a delicious feast. We used to eat together much more, but circumstances have conspired to make the together less frequent, over the last year or so. Hopefully the next 12 months will be MUCH more frequent again. (I accidentally just typed 112 months there, first, instead of 12 months, and that would be agreeable too!)

I wanted to make something where everyone could choose the bits they liked the most, because everyone has different tastes, so Bibimbap seemed like a fun idea. Yes, it took a while to prepare, but honestly, I like nothing better than having the kitchen to myself and putting the 80s music radio station on and cooking delicious things. Actually… I lie. This time I listened to the Mindhunter playlist on Spotify. Have you watched it yet?

I watched the whole thing on the weekend. Honestly, some of the crime descriptions are a little too graphic, if you ask me, but apart from that I thought it was pretty interesting to consider how the profiling of serial killers came to be.

How to make Bibimbap How to make Bibimbap

But back to Bibimbap. I turned to the experts – My Korean Kitchen – for excellent, authentic recipes. They all worked beautifully. Here is what I made:

Saturday night Bibimbap feast

+ Korean-style stir-fried cucumber
+ Marinated sliced beef (I bought a small piece of eye fillet and followed the recipe here) with the bibimbap sauce on this page (I tripled the quantities)
+ Korean-style potatoes
+ Sesame beans sprouts
+ Carrots with sesame seasoning
+ Daikon salad
+ Fried shitake and Swiss brown mushrooms (I added a splash of soy, too)
+ Sesame spinach
+ Fluffy steamed rice
+ Fried eggs to serve

This was so good. I’m not a huge egg person, so I didn’t have an egg on mine. But the kids did and they tried all the veggie dishes and loved it all.

I loved it all, but the Daikon Salad was particularly ace. I am going to make it 112 times at least.

And it’s good to buy a big packet of sesame seeds, a bottle of nice sesame oil and a tub of Korean Chilli Paste (gochujang) to get cracking. I didn’t have any gochugaru (Korean Chilli Flakes) so I just used the Chili paste for that recipe too. Next time I’ll use the flakes though, because they sound dandy and I think I see spicy Daikon addiction in my future…

Maybe you might have your own bibimbap approach? Or this might give you a kick start in that direction?! What are your thoughts?

Sesame seeds forever!

x Pip

3 Comments

  • Reply Libby October 18, 2017 at 2:13 AM

    I looooove Bibimbap!!! I’m an Aussie living in Vancouver, Canada and there is a large Korean population. We are so lucky to have Korean grocery stores and food courts around the city. Bibimbap is my go to take out lunch!!!
    One of my favourite Korean side staples is kimchi – tastes really good in the bibimbap mix. Spicier the better!!!
    I think you and your crew may enjoy it too…
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimchi

    • Reply Pip October 18, 2017 at 6:43 AM

      I eat kimchi every day!!!! (My kids hate it though, especially the smell, so I didn’t put it on the table for this dinner!) I’m TOTALLY WITH YOU!!!

  • Reply Jane @ Shady Baker October 17, 2017 at 3:55 PM

    This food looks vibrant and delicious Pip, good on you! x

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