ramyaramesh3007This Korean rice and vegetable dish is packed with crunchy vegetables, spicy bulgogi oyster mushrooms cooked in sweet, spicy gochujang kimchi sauce. It’s insanely easy to make!
Bibimbap is a super popular korean dish that you may have heard of already and personally it is one of my favourite! It’s made with rice, crunchy vegetables and seasoned with a hot chili pepper paste, like gochujang. You can also add other ingredients like bulgogi tofu or braised oyster mushrooms.
Traditionally, it’s prepared in a stone-pot (“dolsot” in korean) to maximize the flavours of the dish. It enables a nice crispy layer of rice for that extra crunch! You can taste the difference in smokiness and flavours too!
There are many variations of this dish – my version consists of thinly sliced cucumbers, carrots, bulgogi oyster mushrooms to replace the meat and kimchi for an extra tang. Once you prepare the dishes (full recipe below), don’t forget to mix them together before eating! It brings all the flavours together.
Ingredients You Need
- pearl oyster mushrooms – you can be versatile with this but I got fresh, locally harvested pearl oyster mushrooms from Mushroom Buddies.
- bulgogi marinade – soy sauce, coconut sugar, garlic and ginger, gochujang, sesame oil, vegan kimchi
- aromatics – scallions (both white and green parts)
- vegetables – spinach, carrots, cucumber
There is no gluten free option for this dish since gochujang contains gluten. However, you can replace gochujang with sambal chili for a spicy kick.
Gluten free substitutions:
- Use gluten free soy sauce, tamari or coconut aminos.
- Omit gochujang – use gluten free and vegan kimchi instead.
Allium free substitutions (no onion, no garlic):
- Omit gochujang and use vegan & allium free kimchi instead. You can also choose not to add both.
- Omit garlic and add a pinch of hing.
- Instead of stalks of scallions, use thinly sliced fennel or celery.
Easy Bibimbap with Bulgogi
Ingredients
Mushroom Bulgogi
- 150 g pearl oyster mushrooms sub with any other mushrooms
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- 1 tsp gochujang
- 1.5 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp coconut sugar sub with agave or maple syrup
- 2 tsp gochugaru
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 1/2 cup vegan kimchi
Sesame Spinach
- 150 g spinach
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
Bibimbap
- julienned carrots
- julienned cucumber
- chopped spring onions
- toasted sesame seeds
- 2 servings white or mixed grain rice cooked
Instructions
- Shred oyster mushrooms or slice them very thinly.
- To a bowl, add all the ingredients for your marinade: coconut sugar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, gochujang, kimchi, sesame oil, gochugaru and white part of scallions (you can trim them).
- Transfer to a claypot or a pot and cook for 5-8 minutes until the mushrooms are fully cooked and the dish is sizzling. Take it out.
- Blanch your spinach in boiling water under softened and bright green. Take out and drain excess water.
- Add sesame oil, soy sauce and sesame seeds to spinach. Combine with hands or a spoon.
- Add rice to dolsot (stone pot) and keep under heat until the bottom layer turns crispy.
- Assemble your bibimbap: mushroom bulgogi, sliced cucumbers, carrots, and spinach.
- Give the ingredients a good mix and top with more sesame seeds. Enjoy!