Bibimbap. What a fun name for a food! Whenever I say it, I feel like bursting out in song. It took me a while to realize that
bibimbap is a real name of a delicious food, meaning mixed rice. A Korean meal that has quickly made it well onto my list of favorites.
What exactly is bibimbap, you ask? It is a prettily plated mixed dish, typically with rice, a few types of vegetables, each prepared separately, and maybe a protein or two. Typically it is topped with a fried egg and a sauce, usually a hot sauce, but I leave out the egg because I don't find it necessary, and I am sensitive to eggs.
The reason I like bibimbap is because it is very versatile. It tastes great, but can be made pretty much with whatever you have in hand, and therefore can be made to suit whatever diet you're following, pretty much. Even the rice can be replaced with some other grain, like quinoa, or even by
cauliflower "rice". Now that I'm trying to increase the amount of veggies I am eating, and cutting back on the amount of grains, I find that bibimbap can help me get all those veggies in, feel satiated, and truly enjoy my meal. And it's also the perfect way to use leftovers.
I served bibimbap at a meal recently where we have a guest who is a pretty picky eater. The beauty of bibimbap is that I was able to serve her just what she liked, while everyone else got to enjoy all the other parts of the dish. This is a perfect dish for picky eaters or for families where everyone has different dietary preferences.
So, while I'm sure everyone wants me to include an official specific recipe... I'm not really going to do that. Because the beauty in bibimbap is that you don't need to follow a specific recipe, and it'll still be awesome.
Here's two pics of different meals of bibimbap that I made, just to give you examples of how your bibimbap can be varied.