Skip to main content

Bibimbap



This is the reason I love taking part in Taste & Create. There is so much new to learn and try when you meet new partners. This month, I am visiting Kitschow in Vancouver for a course in Asian cooking. She also tries a lot of other cuisines, but wok is her favorite way to cook. I first thought I'd find very little vegetarian choice at her place. But as luck would have it, she has recently done a lot of vegetarian cooking and eating for lent and I had a virtual rainbow to pick from. Everything looked so delicious it was tough to pick one. I picked the one with the cutest name : Bibimbap.

Bibimbap is a Korean rice, usually topped with beef and vegetables but Kitschow made a vegan version for Lent. The recipe has three parts. First you cook the rice. Then, when it's almost done but is still moist, you arrange vegetables on top so it looks colorful and pretty. For the vegan version, Kitschow just put raw veggies there and let them cook in the steam. But I liked the idea of steaming them first. So I chopped all my chosen vegetables - spinach, mushrooms, peppers and babycorn - and microwaved them separately with a tbsp of two of water for a minute.

The third and the most important bit is the dressing. For my 1/2 cup rice, I mixed 2 tbsp chilli soy sauce, a tbsp of vegetable oil, 2 garlic cloves, green bits of a spring onion and 1/2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds. I poured half of this dressing on the rice, then arranged the steamed vegetables on top, added pan fried tofu in the middle and poured the rest of the dressing over. Covered the rice and let it steam for a few minutes. This pretty look is how you take it to the table. Once that's done, you mix it all in and indulge in the best vegetable rice ever.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi SImran

I am a new reader of ur blog , & i like ur blog as well it has that no fuss free attitutude of writng wich is a nice change. I am also planning to try out some of ur cookies recipe. i just wanted to check a thing , when u bake cookies , do u place them directly on the baking pan or u place a butter paper or parchment paper , do let me know. i am quiet new to baking so this question.
Anonymous said…
Pinky - I put my cookies directly on the baking sheet. You can try that with a small batch, and use the paper only if your cookies stick (although it's unlikely with something that has so much butter).
notyet100 said…
mmmm,...this looks yum,.//:-)
Biswajit said…
sounds delicious. can i send my cook over to you for training?
Pooh said…
This is so weird! I just asked a Korean friend for the recipe last week. I'll have to return to yours when I decide to make this and compare notes.
Bindiya said…
Simran this looks really easy, yummy and healthy to boot, will try it out asap!
Pavani said…
I love taste & create too, new blogs to explore and try new food. Bibimbap looks delicious. I made it for A.W.E.D and I really liked it, especially the sauce.
Chutneytales said…
This looks yum!!And its super healthy :)
KC said…
Hi Simran:

This looks perfect! I was afraid people would think steaming each veg too much trouble so I offered a simplified version. Glad you decided to steam.

I really enjoyed your blog and am glad Nicole paired us. I will visit you often.
Laura said…
Somehow I totally forgot to sign up for T&C this month which really bums me out, esp since I'll be gone most of May. ANyway I LOVE bibimbap and this looks fabulous!
Bharti said…
I like this. looks and sounds really good. The garlic in the dressing must have made it really flavorful. And yes, the name is really cute!
This comment has been removed by the author.
Simran...I am not able to pronounce javascript:void(0)it dear..he he :)
Nice try looks yummy ..hey gimme ur mail id n phone number, u can send it to
thechefandherkitchen@gmail.com

Popular posts from this blog

I've found my perfect cookie

It's a bite sized cookie, with flavors of a pie, shape of a croissant and a pretty, pretty name. It's Rugelach. I first heard of this cookie when it became the baking pick for Tuesdays with Dorrie a couple of months back. The looks, the concept - everything was fascinating. And I've dreamed of making this cookie ever since. I ditched hundreds of recipes floating around and went straight to the master. It's Dorie Greenspan's recipe that I used, and ain't I glad I got it so perfect the very first time. So what's rugelach? It's cream-cheese pastry dough, rolled then cut into wedges, spread with jam and sugar and fillings of choice, rolled into crescents and baked. First the dough. Dorie did it in her processor, but I just went and did it by hand. Put 100 gms cream cheese and 100 gms butter out of the fridge until they were soft but still cold. Added both to a cup of plain flour (I omitted the salt because I use salted butter). Rubbed the flour and but

Aloo Paranthas

In all these years of blogging, I've somehow never managed to talk about aloo paranthas, the potato stuffed flatbread that's a standard breakfast in North India. Possibly because they are such a staple in our home, I found there wouldn't be enough interest in the recipe. But I've also realised over time that my mom's recipe is unique, using a combination of flavours and spices that make these paranthas delicious. But that's not the only reason for this post. I also wanted to tell you about a super cool party and some ways we found to make aloo paranthas even better and believe it or not, healthier. The party in question was hosted by Rushina at her cooking studio a few months back. For a while now, Rushina has been talking about the merits of cling film, parchment and something called cooking foil made by Asahi Kasei. Because we won't believe that you can really cook without oil but using science, she invited a bunch of us over for a potluck lunch.

Mystery Fruit

This only happened a few times every year, just when the rainy season kicked in. A street hawker will come by, straw basket on head. He will yell "kaul chapni" and I will run out to buy a bundle of these. Stuck together like flowers, they looked like a bouquet. Every hole contains a little fruit. You break out the package, peel the tiny fruit that pops out and eat it. Done slowly, it can take you an hour to eat an head. Or did, when I was about 12 years old. That was the last time I saw this fruit. I've never seen it again, didn't even know what it was called or where it came from. Three weeks back, Vikram Doctor wrote about a store in Khar that sells Sindhi foods. He described this fruit and I knew it came from my vivid childhood memories. And finally, I knew we were talking about lotus fruit. Now talk about coincidences. Last weekend, I was passing by a lane in Bandra and for the first time in many, many years I saw the straw basket filled with my mytery fru