bibimbap

Bibimbap

If you asked me to list my favorite meals, they would really all be the same meal as interpreted by different cultures. Yosenabe, paella, bouillabaisse, ceebu jen. OK, a huge basket of steamed clams with melted butter and lemon would be up there, too. But for the most part I am a get-something-out-of-the-ocean-and-some-other-stuff-and-throw-it-all-in-a-pot-together kinda girl.

There are hodgepodge people and purists, in life as in food. I can't settle on one job -- I have three and am considering a fourth -- or one city to love. I have three children, a godson whom I love like a son, and several kids I would like to adopt. In matters of toast, I am a pro jelly, jam, butter, hummus, cinnamon sugar and even peanut butter. I sometimes quarter the toast so as to increase the topping options. (I have managed, thank goodness, to settle on one man.) Happiness, to us hodgepodge folks, are those have-it-all moments where we don't have to choose.

And even though I do ridiculous, indulgent mid-week meals on occasion, if I waltzed into the house after 6 pm one evening and announced that I was making paella, my husband might take my kitchen knives away. (Or at least order pizza for the kids.)

Bibimbap, on the other hand, is a quick and easy have-it-all meal. (Especially if there is a good Korean grocery in your neighborhood.) In Albany, easy bibimbap is a Wednesday meal. Welcome to one of my favorite Albany food secrets.


On Wednesdays, Kim's on Central Avenue gets its weekly shipment of prepared Korean foods from New Jersey. There are big containers of pickled octopus, seasoned burdock, and a boney fried-fish dish that is sort of like General Tso's fish, except much, much better. The selection changes every week, but one thing that comes consistently is a container of prepared bibimbap vegetables. There is spinach in sesame oil dressing, of course. But there is also a bell-flower salad, a dark grean vegetable that I think is shiso leaves, but I'm not sure. And my favorite, some kind of stalky, ferny thing called bracken that is delicious. The pack is $6 and has enough of each salad to make six to eight servings of bibimbap.

I asked my husband to put on the rice when he got home. When I arrived, all I had to do was broil the chicken and fry the eggs.

We could have stopped there, but since my mom and Bean were there and eager to cook, we went a little crazy. They added a quick cucumber pickle and a simple tofu salad to make the dish totally decadent. We ate the bibimbap picnic style in Baba's room so she could join in the festivities. It was crowded and a little hectic all jammed together on the floor and stools. But this was a night to have everyone and everything, together.

Bibimbap, with help from Kim's

This dish can seem intimidating, but really it is only as complicated as you want to make it. All you really need is rice, some kind of cooked vegetable, a fried egg and the chili sauce.

Here is one version, but you don't need all the elements if you don't want to bother.

Ingredients
3 cups Japanese or Korean rice, cooked
1 package bibimbap vegetables (ask at your Asian grocery store, they may be hidden in a cooler somewhere.)
1 egg per person

1 boneless chicken thigh per person
for the chicken marinade:
soy sauce
mirin
sesame oil
lemon

for tofu:
1 block silken tofu
5 scallions
soy sauce
sesame oil

for the bibimbap sauce:
3 tablespoons Korean chili paste
2 teaspoons shiro (white) miso
1 tablespoon sugar
sesame oil
a little water to smooth things out

Prep:

Put the rice on.

Turn the broiler on to get hot.

Cut the chicken into small pieces, about the size of your thumb. And put in a big mixing bowl. Toss the chicken with soy sauce, mirin, a few dashes of sesame oil and a small squeeze of lemon. Use enough to coat the chicken well. If you use about a cup of soy sauce, use about a half cup of mirin or a bit less. If you don't have mirin, or are avoiding it, use sugar, try a tablespoon, add more to taste. (If you are more on top of things than I am, you can do this the day before and have it nicely marinated, but it isn't necessary.)

For the tofu salad. Cut the tofu into small squares and spread in one layer in a small flat bowl. Add some soy sauce and few dashes of sesame oil, then sprinkle with very finely minced scallions. Set aside to soak while you prepare everything else.

For chili sauce:

Mix chili sauce ingredients together and add water to make it smooth. The lady at Kim's says she doesn't use miso in the paste, but that it is nice to smooth it out for children. I used it, and it softened out the edges a bit and my son loved it.

Place the chicken on a flat broiling pan (or BBQ it) and broil till it is nice and brown, flip and repeat. Use high heat and cook it fast.

In individual bowls, put rice on the bottom. In a circle around the edges, place little mounds of the different vegetables, tofu salad and meat.

When the bowls are ready, fry an egg sunny-side up for each person. Put the egg in the middle of the bowl. Serve with the chili sauce on the side. Encourage people to top with the chili suace and toss everything together.

This is a nice dish for kids because you can make each bowl different. If someone just wants chicken and rice, no problem.

posted November 17, 2007 | link | contribute a comment

filed under: Ingredients, Places, Recipes, Albany, bibimbap, bouillabaisse, ceebu jen, Kim's, NY, paella

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