Wealden Times | WT226 | March 2021 | Interiors supplement inside

Bibimbap
Serves: 4 Prep time: 1 hour
(inc. marinating time)
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Served in a steaming hot stone bowl,
the presentation of this guilt-free dish
is just as exciting as the punchy chilli
and sesame flavours inside. The fried
(or sometimes raw) egg nestled amongst
the other ingredients makes this dish
sing. Good-quality ingredients make a
world of difference for a truly authentic
Korean taste, and gochujang,
which is a slightly sweet but
fiery chilli paste, is well
worth seeking out in
Asian food stores.
• 400g pork
belly, chopped
into thin
2.5-cm/1-
inch pieces
• 400g
short-grain
brown rice
(or brown
sushi rice)
• vegetable
(or sunflower
or rapeseed)
oil, for frying
• 2 carrots, cut into thin strips
• ½ tsp toasted sesame oil
• ½ tsp dark soy sauce
• ½ tsp agave syrup
• 150g oyster (or shiitake) mushrooms
• 150g beansprouts
• 3 onions, sliced
• 200g spinach
• 4 eggs
• 2 spring onions, finely chopped
• sea salt and black pepper, to season
• black sesame seeds, to serve
For the gochujang sauce:
• 4tbsps gochujang paste
• 4tbsps toasted sesame oil
• 4tbsps dark soy sauce
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2tbsps agave syrup
1 To make the gochujang sauce, mix
together all the ingredients. Pour
half the sauce over the pork belly
in a bowl, cover and marinate in
the fridge for at least 1 hour. Cook
the rice according to the packet
instructions and keep warm.
2 While the rice is cooking, heat 1
tablespoon of oil in a frying pan or
wok and stir-fry the carrots until
beginning to soften. Add the sesame
oil, soy sauce and agave syrup. Cook
for 1 minute over high heat, then set
aside on a plate. Cook the mushrooms,
beansprouts, onions and spinach
(which will wilt down) separately in
the same pan, and in the same way,
seasoning with salt and pepper at the
end. It is normal for the vegetables to
be served at room temperature, as long
as the rice, meat and eggs are hot, so
don’t worry about keeping them warm.
3 Next, stir-fry the marinated pork
(with the sauce it was sitting in)
until cooked through. The sauce
should reduce down a little with the
heat, intensifying all the flavours.
4 In a separate frying pan, fry the eggs
however you like them – it is nice to
have the yolk a little soft for this dish.
5 Dish the hot rice into bowls and
top with individual piles of vegetables
and meat, finishing off with the egg
in the middle and a sprinkling of
spring onions and sesame seeds.
6 Serve with the gochujang sauce,
adding as much or as little as you
like. The Korean way of eating this
is to mix the whole thing together
like crazy until all the ingredients
are combined. If it is not punchy
enough, add more sauce.