Korean Bibimbap

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Have you tried Bibimbap before?  If you haven't you really should. It's easy to do and very yummy.  A great dish to do for a dinner party of 4 to 6 also, because (1) you can prepare the components beforehand, (2) I find that guests (usually those who can't cook) are usually impressed by getting to 'participate' in the cooking themselves - even the simple experience of cooking their runny egg in a sizzling claypot will give them a lotta joy. No kidding. 

I will share my recipe for Bibimbap here. Actually it is a non-recipe because I have not listed quantities! Lazy lah, you just have to agak-agak. Not difficult one lah. This is a quick and easy version.  Dulsot bibimbap (which is what I like, not the cold kind served in stainless steel bowl, but one cooked in stone bowl) is what this is called. Except I don't have a stone bowl, so I 'cook' it in a claypot.

Recipe for Bibimbap

Ingredients

Cooked rice
Soya beansprouts (not normal taugeh ok?)
Spinach (i.e. Po Chai, not round or sharp spinach)
Carrots (cut into strips)
Cucumber(cut into strips) (optional)
Beef slices (from fillet or striploin)
Deep-fried Anchovies
Toasted Sesame seeds
Enoki Mushrooms
Kimchi
Egg

Jap Soy Sauce
Sesame oil
Korean Hot Pepper Sauce
Korean Bulgogi Marinade

Method
1) Marinate beef in bulgogi marinade, overnight if possible. See, simple right? thank God for ready made sauces.
2) Blanch soya beansprouts, carrots, enoki mushrooms and spinach.  Drain WELL and marinate in mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar. Some people also blanch the cucumber but I don't like to do that. I prefer it to be raw and crunchy. Also, some people saute the carrots and mushrooms instead but I prefer to be lazy and fast, just blanch everything ;)
3) Stir fry sliced beef in a little oil and set aside. Don't overcook!!!!
4) Fry a sunny side egg. (Yolk must be less cooked than in my picture. I pregnant mah.  If less cooked, then the yolk will be orangey yellow and perky and shiny, much nicer :)
5) Deep fried anchovies - these you can get ready made from a Korean supermart, they are bigger than the local ikan bilis.  If you are stingy like me and don't want to pay $5 for a half-full packet of anchovies, then you can try to fry ikan bilis with oil, stir in sugar and sesame seeds at the last stage (being careful not to burn the sugar), then switch off flame. If you haven't tried frying ikan bilis before, better practise :)
6) This is the FUN part. Using a bowl, shape a rounded mound of rice in the middle of your single person claypot. Place egg on top of rice and then arrange the beansprouts, mushrooms, cucumber, spinach and carrots in a cricle around the yolk.  Leaving space for the kimchi and anchovies (which you don't add first).
7) Just before serving, drizzle a tablespoonful each of sesame oil and soya sauce over everything, and then heat up the claypot over the stove until it is really hot (the rice at the bottom may burn a little but that's the good part.) (I start heating up without cover at first and then with the cover for the second half of heating time). Then, quickly arrange anchovies and kimchi in the reserved space, add a dollop of hot pepper sauce on the side, and serve to guests with the cover on the claypot (to keep the heat it).
8) Your happy guest/family member is supposed to gleefully poke the runny yolk with his/her chopsticks and swirl everything in the bowl around.  He/she might start salivating into the claypot at this point on hearing the happy sssssizzzzzzzzle of the egg getting cooked.  BIBIMBAP!!