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.