Yankee Bibimbap

For lack of a better name, I call this dish Yankee Bibimbap. I figure I'm the American who created it, the food is based on a Korean recipe, and it's a rice dish in a bowl, so that's the best name I came up with. I'm sure Korean food purists would quibble, especially since the egg is optional. In fact, I've made this only once with the egg. I'm not sure why I don't put the egg in. Maybe it's because I didn't notice enough of a flavor change, or maybe it's because there's already a lot of food in the pot that I don't see the need to add more.

The Korean recipe that inspired this dish is Hobakseon, or Stuffed Zucchini, from Korean Home Cooking by Soon Young Chung. The first and last time I made hobakseon I learned that it's very difficult to stuff hot zucchinis. But I liked the way the beef tasted, so I took that part and combined it with an older dish I made up years earlier - beef sauteed with onions, garlic, kidney beans, corn, rice, and jerk sauce. Only I left out the jerk sauce, replaced the kidney beans with black beans, and added yangnyum gochujang - seasoned chili paste.

Aside from the high sodium, this dish is pretty healthy, especially if you use lean ground beef.

Beef/Veggie/Rice mix:

0.25 lb ground beef
some chopped mushrooms, approx. 4-7
1 can black beans
1 can corn (I like to use shoepeg or white corn as it's sweeter)
1 chopped green pepper (or red or yellow)
1 slice zucchini (optional)
1 egg (optional)
4 tsp finely chopped onions (I use shallots)
2 tsp crushed garlic (approximately 4-6 cloves)
2 tsp toasted ground sesame seeds
2 Tbl light soy sauce
1 Tbl sugar
2 tsp sesame oil
ground black pepper to taste
1-2 Tbl cooking oil (canola, olive, sunflower, whatever you use to saute)
2-3 C cooked rice (approximate - I just cook the smallest set of rice according to the package)

Combine beef, mushrooms, onions, garlic, sesame seeds, sugar, soy sauce, and sesame oil in a bowl. Mix well, cover and let marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Heat cooking oil in a deep frying pan. Add chopped pepper and zucchinis. Saute until lightly cooked. Add beef mixture. Cook until beef is just done. Add black beans and corn. Stir until beans and corn are cooked. Add rice and mix together. If you want, add egg and stir it in so it scrambles and cooks in the mix.

Serve in a bowl with chili paste on the side.

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Yangnyum Gochujang - Seasoned Chili Paste:

This recipe is from Eating Korean by Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee and makes 1/2 cup, although I always seem to end up with a whole cup.

4 Tbl Korean chili paste (gochujang, or gojujang)
2 minced garlic cloves
2 Tbl sesame oil
1 Tbl soy sauce (I like to use Tamari soy sauce - it's saltier but has more depth than regular soy sauce)
2 tsp sugar or Korean malt syrup (mool yut)
2 tsp toasted sesame seeds (optional)
1 chopped green onion (optional - I use a shallot instead)

Combine all ingredients until they are well mixed. Stored in a covered container in the refrigerator. It will last for over a week.

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To eat the Yankee Bibimbap, mix in the chili paste to taste. If you are unaccustomed to Korean food, or spicy food in general, you should go light and add more as you wish. A friend of mine who had eaten Korean food before added too much chili paste the first time she ate this. She "misjudged the heat."

The dish has a salty-sweet taste because of the soy sauce and sugar, which sets off the sweetness in the corn. The chili paste gives it a smoky heat that I think goes well with the beans. As you might guess, you can substitute any of the ingredients for something else. Don't like black beans? Try kidney beans. Don't like green peppers? Use something else. The last time I made this I went vegetarian. Instead of beef I just used a whole package of mushrooms.

The recipe makes a good bit of food. I haven't figured out how many servings come out of it, but it will usually give me half week of lunches and dinners. And this is one of those dishes that tastes better the next day.