Medium-grain rice (Korean rice, or sushi rice)
Beef
Carrot
Cucumber
Doraji (도라지) (Platycodon - Bellflower or Balloonflower Root)
Korean radish (무) ("Mu")
Gosari (고사리) (Fernbrake) or Fiddleheads
Shiitake mushrooms
Spinach
Bean sprouts
Cheongpo (청포) or Tofu
Eggs
Seaweed (Laver)
Gochujang (고추장) (Red pepper paste)
For seasoning:
Sesame oil
Sesame seeds
Salt
Sugar
Soy sauce
Rice vinegar
Rice wine
Scallion
Garlic
Ginger
Pepper
Choose from among this long list of ingredients, or put them all in, as you like. You can leave out anything except the rice and gochujang, and perhaps the egg.
To prepare, cook the rice, and season the vegetables and beef one ingredient at a time, as described below. For each serving, place 1 1/2 cups cooked rice in a bowl. Drizzle with a bit of sesame oil and top with a teaspoonful of seasoned gochujang. Add about two tablespoons of the beef in a small pile. Add one or two tablespoons of each of the vegetables (carrot, cucumber, doraji, radish, fiddleheads or gosari, mushrooms, and sprouts) and of the bean curd in their own small piles. Dot with short strips of toasted seaweed. Top each serving with a fried egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with additional seasoned gochujang on the side.
Wash the rice, soak for 30 minutes, and drain. Then add just a bit more than 1 cup of water per cup of rice, cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes with the lid tight.
If you have Korean style stone bowls in which to serve the bibimbap, finish the rice in the bowl so that it develops a nice crust on the bottom.
Per serving:
1 oz beef, sliced into thin strips
1/4 tsp soy sauce
2/3 tsp sesame oil
1/3 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp rice wine
1/4 tsp minced scallion
1/3 tsp minced ginger
1/8 tsp minced garlic
Freshly ground pepper
Mix ingredients well. Allow to marinate while you prepare the other vegetables. Stir fry 1-2 minutes until beef is just brown. (You should start the beef first after you put the rice on, to allow it time to marinate, and cook it next to last, followed only by the fried egg.)
Cut into thin strips, about the size of matchsticks. Spread on a plate or tray and sprinkle with salt. Allow to stand 5 minutes. Brush off salt and rinse quickly. (If they taste too salty you can rinse them more thoroughly.) Saute in sesame oil for 2-3 minutes until they start to become tender.
Same as the carrot, except 1-2 minutes in the pan should suffice.
Salt lightly. Saute in sesame oil.
The standard variety of Korean radish (mu) is large and egg-shaped. The specimens we found were about 6 inches long and 4 inches in diameter, with the skin green on the top half and white on the bottom half. If Korean radish is unavailable, daikon is probably the closest substitute.
Cut into thin strips. Blanch in salted boiling water. After removing, add more salt to taste. Add a splash of rice vinegar.
Salt lightly. Saute in sesame oil.
Cut into thin strips. Salt lightly. Saute in sesame oil.
For 4 servings:
2 cups spinach leaves
Salt
3/4 tsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp sesame oil
1/8 tsp crushed or minced sesame seeds
1/4 tsp pressed or minced garlic
1/8 tsp minced scallion
1/8 tsp salt
Blanch spinach in salted boiling water for 45-60 seconds. Rinse briefly in cold water to stop cooking. Combine remaining ingredients and toss with spinach.
Blanch in salted boiling water. After removing add more salt to taste.
Cheongpo is a Korean bean curd made out of mung beans instead of soybeans. Tofu is the nearest substitute.
Cut into strips. Add splashes of soy sauce and of sesame oil. Saute momentarily to warm.
To each tablespoon red pepper paste (gochujang) add 1/2 tsp sesame oil and 1/4 tsp rice vinegar and mix well.