Bibimbap - Korean mixed rice bowl

Have I ever told you I love this site Maangchi? I'm on an unofficial quest to cook every recipe she posts. I've already done the japchae and pajeon, and the jajangmyun. Now, I tackle the bibimbap, mixed rice with veggies via this recipe. We couldn't go to a Korean store so I gathered the ingredients from Suruki's Japanese Market and Draeger's Market.

My ingredients: spinach, English zucchini, regular bean sprouts, organic carrots. 

Washed and ready.

Presoaking shitake mushrooms we already had at home. They soaked for 2-3 hours total.

After gathering the ingredients, everything was then cooked with a slow cooker. And by slow cooker, I mean me, not an appliance. I found myself unprepared for the tedious steps of this recipe and we did not eat this "lunch" until 3PM. So I basically starved until this meal all because I cook slowly. Oh well, tis a learning process.

Sliced zucchinis are then sauteed and mixed with some sesame oil and chopped garlic. Basically all the toppings are going to be tossed in sesame oil and garlic.

We had leftover Korean BBQ thanks to Phil's brother so I had Phil cook up a few strips,

and then cut them into little cubes for mixing later. The recipe calls for ground beef but since we already had the BBQ, I thought it'd be a delicious addition.

2 hours later (sad face) all the toppings are ready and tossed in sesame oil and chopped garlic. I'm missing the kosari from her recipe which I really wanted to try but it can only be found at the Korean market. All the chopped garlic was overbearing and I used too much sesame oil so next time, I'll do half a clove and find a sesame oil bottle with a smaller opening that I can control better.

My bowl of Japanese rice (because it's all we had) with some of the toppings and a beautifully cooked sunny side up egg that Phil made. I'm impressed.

He must've given me the good egg because this guy here looks a little deflated.

Mix with a sauce of soy, sesame oil, sesame seeds, and sugar. There's a spicy sauce too that goes with this but again, only at the Korean store. After so much labor we finally got to dig in and it was fantastic. Almost as good as the bibimbap we got here, or here. Now that I know how to make this, I will cook much faster next time. It's a great way to make use of leftovers too because many of these items can be substituted. If you want to make Korean food, check out Maangchi's website. She always posts a video along with pictures and text so it's very helpful.