Bibimbap

Ingredients

• 800g cooked short-grain rice, hot
• 200g beef mince or thinly sliced sirloin
• 150g spinach
• 200g soybean sprouts
• 1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
• 1 courgette, cut into matchsticks
• 150g shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• 100g gosari (fernbrake), soaked and cooked, optional
• 4 eggs
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• 3 tbsp neutral oil
• 2 tsp fine salt
• 4 tbsp gochujang
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp water

Before you cook

• Cook the rice and keep it hot
• Cut the carrot and courgette into matchsticks and slice the mushrooms
• Toss the beef with 2 tbsp soy sauce, the sugar, a third of the garlic and 1 tsp sesame oil
• Stir the gochujang with the rice vinegar, water, 1 tbsp sesame oil and 1 tsp sugar to make a pourable sauce

Steps

1. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil and blanch the spinach for 30 seconds.
2. Cool the spinach in cold water, squeeze it hard, and season it with a pinch of salt, a little garlic and a teaspoon of sesame oil.
3. Boil the soybean sprouts in the same water for 5 minutes with the lid on the whole time, then drain and season them the same way.
4. Salt the courgette matchsticks lightly and leave them for 10 minutes, then squeeze out the water.
5. Heat a little neutral oil in a frying pan and cook the courgette for 2 minutes, then set it aside.
6. Cook the carrot with a pinch of salt for 2 minutes and set it aside.
7. Cook the mushrooms with a splash of soy sauce for 3 minutes and set them aside.
8. Turn the heat to high and stir-fry the marinated beef for 3 minutes until browned, then set it aside.
9. Wipe the pan, add fresh oil, and fry the eggs one at a time so the whites set but the yolks stay runny.
10. Divide the hot rice between four wide bowls and press it flat.
11. Arrange each vegetable and the beef in separate wedges over the rice so the colours sit side by side.
12. Set a fried egg in the centre of each bowl.
13. Scatter over the sesame seeds and drizzle each bowl with the remaining sesame oil.
14. Serve with the gochujang sauce on the side and tell everyone to stir their bowl hard before the first bite.