Make This Dish When You Have Veggies That Are About To Become Spoiled

Love Korean food? Then you probably know about the bibimbap. It’s a stunning rice bowl that is loaded with ingredients. It usually consists of steamed rice topped with a variety of ingredients. Here’s what you might typically find in a bibimbap:

• • steamed rice
• • assorted vegetables sliced into thin strips or lightly sautéed
• • bean sprouts or togue 
• • bulgogi or cooked meat
• • nori strips or seaweed
• • gochujang or hot pepper paste
• • egg 

The vegetables can be carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms, kangkong, cabbage, or even just mixed vegetables. These are the basics but it can go beyond this list or be a shorter list. What’s so great about the bibimbap is that it takes full advantage of the ingredients you already have prepared as well as ingredients you can easily prepare. It’s not a difficult dish to cook since there is little cooking involved. The ingredients are commonly already cooked or easy to cook, but it does need some preparation.   

Photo by Roselle Miranda

It’s for this reason that it’s a great dish to make when you have vegetables that are about to spoil or even ingredients that are leftover from another dish. Since each bowl doesn’t need a lot of any one ingredient, it’s a great way to prepare all those veggies and still prepare a delicious meal that you’ll enjoy in the end. 

The main tip here is to remove any parts you wouldn’t want to eat and just use the parts that are still edible. Rinse well, slice thinly, and bibimbap is an easy way to get these leftover veggies onto your plate. 

Here’s what you do to make it easy to make: 

1. 1 Prepare steamed rice as normal. 
2. 2 Prepare fresh vegetables, slicing each ingredient into thin strips. 
3. 3 Reheat any leftover meat thoroughly. 
4. 4 To assemble, place steamed rice in a bowl or shallow plate. Arrange vegetables and cooked meat on top as desired. Add some gochujang and seasoned nori strips. Top with a fried egg. Repeat with any remaining ingredients. Serve with more gochujang on the side.

This is a great way to use up the last of your veggies and turning what could be food waste into a delicious mix-and-match rice bowl. 

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