Bibimbap

My sister-in-law introduced us to a new dish: bibimbap. You have to like it just for the name. Sounds kinda funky, doesn't it? Bibimbap is a Korean dish of rice, vegetables, and meat with a sweet-hot red chili sauce and a fried egg on top. It is one of those great dishes that can be really simple or quite complex depending on the contents of your pantry and your whim. Traditionally, it is served with carrots, bean sprouts, lettuce, mushrooms, and fernbrake. I have also made it with nori, daikon pickles, and bell peppers. You can pretty much use any vegetable you want.

Here's what to do:

Marinate some thinly sliced beef in some Korean barbeque sauce. I buy it. You can make it if you want. Sliver some carrots, lettuce, and soak some dried shittakes. Saute the carrots for about two minutes in 1 T sesame oil. Arrange those ingredients on a platter along with some sliced daikon pickle. Put some sliced nori in a separate bowl.

Soak some fernbrake (dried bracken, pretty much it's dried ferns) for 30 mins or so. Boil them for another thrity minutes, then drain, squeeze out any excess water and cut into two inch pieces. Mix in 1 clove of garlic and 1 T soy sauce. Heat 1 T vegetable oil in the same pan you did the carrots in and saute the fernbrake for two to three minutes. Arrange on the platter. Heat 1 T vegetable oil in the same pan and saute the marinated beef, Put it on the platter.

Dish some cooked rice into a bowl and arrange your choice of veggies on top. Top off with a fried egg, and some Korean chili paste.  If you can't find that, try some sriracha sauce, you can get that anywhere. Mix everything together. Drizzle with sesame oil if you like. Eat it.