Bibimbap is a mouth watering Korean veggie/rice dish topped with a fried egg. (The egg is optional.) It even tastes good the next day…and the next – this recipe makes a lot!

As with many Asian recipes, the prep takes the longest. Even though there’s time while cooking the individual veggies, I strongly suggest you concentrate on stirring rather than chopping since the stove is on a high heat.

BIBIMBAP – makes about 8-9 cups

• 2 cups raw Chinese rice, unrinsed
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup go-chu-jang (it’s a bottled sauce in the Asian section – picture below)
• 4 T sesame oil
• 2 T + 2 tsp sugar, divided
• 6 scallions, sliced
• 6 T soy sauce
• 6 garlic cloves, pressed
• 2 T vegetable oil, divided
• 15 oz carrots, shredded
• 16 oz shiitake mushrooms, discard stems, coarsely chopped
• 20 oz spinach, coarsely chopped
• eggs – as many as you want

In a saucepan, combine rice, 2¼ cups water, and salt. Bring to boil, reduce to keep a simmer, and cover. Cook for 10 minutes, then turn off heat but leave pot on burner, covered.

While rice is cooking, use the time to prepare the sauces and veggies:

In a bowl put the go-chu-jang, sesame oil, 6 T water, and 2 tsp sugar. Whisk to combine and set aside. In a 2 cup measuring cup, combine 1 cup water, soy sauce, garlic, 2 T sugar, and scallions. (The measuring cup makes it easier to see how much you need.) Shred the carrots – use a food processor, if you have one. Otherwise, use a box grater. Place in a bowl.

Thoroughly wash mushrooms. Cut out and discard stems. (This can be done easily with kitchen shears!) Coarsely chop and place in a bowl.

Thoroughly wash spinach and coarsely chop. Place in another bowl. Time to get cooking!!!

Heat 2 tsp oil in a Dutch oven over high heat. Add in the carrots and 1/3 of garlic water. Stir until water has evaporated. Transfer carrots back into bowl.

Heat 2 tsp oil in now-empty Dutch oven over high heat. Add mushrooms and 1/3 of garlic water. Cook until liquid has mostly evaporated. Pour back into bowl.

Heat the final 2 tsp oil in the Dutch oven over high heat. Add in the spinach and remainder of the garlic water. Cook until wilted. I’ve found the water doesn’t evaporate completely, so just go by the look of the spinach. (It’s amazing how that giant amount of spinach wilts down to nothing!)Pour back into bowl.

Into the empty Dutch oven place the rice. Add the carrots, mushrooms, and spinach. Pour in the go-chu-jang sauce and mix. If you want to top with fried eggs, cook them in skillet either sunnyside-up or over-easy. Add these to individual bowls.