Recently, I found out one of my favorite Korean dishes, bibimbap, now costs $20 at a restaurant. Immediately, I wondered: could I make my own bibimbap for less? With its rainbow of vegetables, smoky-sweet charred meat, and crispy fried egg, the long list of ingredients was somewhat daunting. However, aside from time spent chopping things, bibimbap is surprisingly simple to make, and there are a few steps you can take to make the process even easier. Read on to find out how to make restaurant-style bibimbap at home, as well as an easy wine pairing with Bibimbap.
Wine Pairing With Bibimbap
Pair bibimbap with off-dry Riesling or Vouvray, which has the sweetness to tame the heat of spicy gochujang, acidity to cut through the fried egg, and light body that will not overpower the fresh vegetables in this dish. Bibimbap has many competing textures and flavors. However, the red gochujang chili paste is hot enough to overpower all other flavors in bibimbap — and in any wine you’re trying to pair it with. Alcohol aggravates the perception of spice. While I’m not normally a fan of off-dry wines, they are the only ones that can withstand the onslaught of spicy gochujang. The residual sugar is soothing to the palate. Against the heat, their sweetness feels appropriate rather than being cloying.
If you just can’t get onboard with an off-dry wine, the next best solution is bubbles. Go for a dry Cava or Champagne, which will cleanse your palate after every bite.
If you don’t add gochujang, then wine pairing with your bibimbap is far more flexible. In the absence of gochujang, bibimbap is very vegetal. Many crisp white wines with less oak presence work well, be it a fruity New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, a light, mineral-driven Alsace Pinot Blanc, or a chalky, lemony Chablis.
Making Bibimbap at Home
You’ll never believe this – but bibimbap can cost you $7 or less per serving, depending on what ingredients you already have in your house. Assuming you already have white rice and sesame seeds, this is my final cost to feed an entire family of four:
- $10 for 1 lb pre-marinated bulgogi pork
- $12 for a bunch of spinach, a pack of mushrooms, and 2 carrots, and 1 cucumber
- $2 for pickled radish
- $4 for a container of Gochujang
- $1 for four eggs (⅓ of a carton of 12)
Total: $29 or $7 per serving for a family of 4!! Compare this to the $100 after tips that you would easily be spending at a restaurant, for the same dish.
You may be curious as to why I chose pre-marinated bulgogi pork. Yes, I could technically buy my own pork or beef and make the bulgogi from scratch. But here’s where I get hung up: it takes so much time to thinly slice bulgogi meat! And if you try to speed things up and make thicker slices, it no longer tastes like bulgogi. Save yourself time for chopping and cooking all of the vegetables to top the bibimbap.
The best part about bibimbap is that there are no hard rules. I’ve enjoyed this dish at countless restaurants. Its ingredients have ranged from daikon, to zucchini, to pickled radishes, to shiitake mushrooms. In other words, put what you like in this dish. There’s no need to stick to one particular set of ingredients. I’ve also had it served atop purple rice instead of white rice, if you want whole grains. To lower prep time on the day of, you can prep the vegetables up to one day in advance.
Easy Bibimbap Recipe
Ingredients
4-5 assorted vegetables of your choosing. Options include:
- Julienned carrots, cooked
- Bean sprouts, blanched
- Julienned or sliced zucchini, cooked
- Mushrooms
- Chopped spinach, sauteed
- Julienned daikon
- Sliced cucumber
- Pickled radish
Other Ingredients
- 2 cups uncooked white rice
- 1 lb pre-marinated bulgogi pork meat (available at Korean grocery stores and some chain grocery stores like Costco or Trader Joe’s)
- 4 eggs
- Cooking oil
- Sesame seeds or furikake, for topping
- Gochujang paste (available at Asian grocery stores)
Instructions
- Prepare the vegetables. Slice carrots, zucchini, daikon, and cucumber thinly (you can use a julienne peeler if desired). Cook each one separately. You can do this up to one day ahead.
- Cook the white rice according to directions. The water level will depend on whether you are using jasmine rice, short-grain rice, or others.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of cooking oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Fry each egg for 2-3 minutes, until the egg white is set but the yolk is still runny. you may need to re-oil the pan for the remaining eggs.
- Wipe the frying pan clean, and return to heat with another tablespoon of oil. Lift the bulgogi meat out of its marinade, and into the hot pan with tongs. Don’t pour the marinade into the pan, or there will be too much liquid for the meat to caramelize. Sear until the meat has developed lightly crisp, dark brown edges.
- Scoop rice into a bowl. Arrange vegetables on top, placing the meat and fried egg in the center.
- Season as desired with sesame seeds, furikake, and gochujang. Enjoy with a crisp, chilled Riesling!
Looking to pair wine with Asian dishes? Consider these other delicious ideas:
