Sanchae Bee Bim Bap - Healthy Korean main course coming your way

I personally hold the opinion that Asian cuisine is one of the healthiest of all - of course provided that you cook them at home and not at restaurants. You could say the same for any cooking, but my choice, again among those, would be Asian cooking one of them being Korean. My personal exposure to Korean food is not very vast except for the famous and popular dishes and few not so well known from my research of the cuisine. Among the popular ones, Bee Bim Bap (or Beebimbop,bibimbap) holds a prominent place. It is one dish meal with layers stacked one on top of the other and is predominantly made with beef.



Sanchae Bibimbap which means Fresh Vegetable Bibimbap uses lots of vegetables along with the meat. I have this recipe from an Authentic Korean Cooking cookbook ( I misplaced the author’s name) from which I adapted this recipe to make it meatless and added a wee bit more ingredients to suit my palate. It’s pretty simple to make and instead of the Portobello mushroom which I used to replace the meat, non-vegetarians can use Beef to do the same process (simply marinate for more time than what is specified in this recipe)

Ingredients


• 1 cup small red radish, cut into thin slices
  
  
• 1 medium daikon radish, peeled and sliced into thin strips
  
  
• 1 carrot, sliced into strips
  
  
• 1 cucumber, sliced
  
  
• approx 4-5 cups spinach, washed with stems discarded (baby spinach works v well)
  
  
• About 4-5 large portobello mushrooms,cleaned and chopped
  
  
• 1 small yellow onion,sliced
  
  
• 2-3 cups cooked Jasmine rice
  

For the Marinade


• 2 tbsp Soy Sauce
  
  
• 3 tsp sugar
  
  
• 4 tsp spring onions/scallions, finely chopped
  
  
• 2 tsp minced garlic/garlic paste
  
  
• 2 tsp coarsely ground toasted sesame seeds
  
  
• 2 tsp sesame oil
  
  
• 1 tsp Rice vinegar
  
  
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
  
  
• salt taste ( make sure to add less salt that your usual amount since Soy sauce also contains sodium)
  
  
• Korean hot chilli sauce to serve (optional)
  

Method

In a bowl, add all the ingredients for the marinade.



Add the chopped mushrooms, give it a toss and close it with a plastic wrap and let it sit for at least 30 min.



Steam all the vegetables except the spinach and onions. Just 2-3 minutes before removing the vegetables add the spinach and let it wilt. Alternatively if you dont like your cucumbers steamed, then prepare a marinade with little Vinegar,sugar and salt and marinare your cucumbers in it until before serving. In a pan, cook the onions until soft.



Now add the mushroom along with the marinade until cooked. They look just like beef dont they ? ;) Alternatively prepare fried eggs, if you like eggs. They are optional.



Next set the plate. The first layer is the cooked jasmine rice



Top it off with steamed vegetables



layer that with the cooked mushrooms



Finally place the fried eggs on top of them.



Tada, you just made the popular Korean dish at home, made healthier, wealthier and with no major effort. And yes you save quite some money by not selecting to eat at the restaurant. The ingredients cost quite less too :)

---

This main dish finds its way to the event close to my heart A.W.E.D hosted by dear PJ this month with Korean as its theme. Thanks PJ for the beautiful theme.

---