Do you remember my recent post for vegan katsu curry? If you recall, it was inspired by my frustration at eating a very mediocre version of that dish while out. Well, the story behind this recipe is pretty much the same. One evening, we came across a little, independent place in the centre of town that, alongside an omni menu, promised to serve an impressive selection of vegan versions of many Asian classics.
We were excited and hoping to finally find a place were we can dine out more regularly, but as soon as the dishes arrived and we tasted them, our excitement wore off. I had a vegan bibimbap, which was so uninspiring that I almost wanted to have a cry. This classic Korean dish of ‘mixed rice’ is typically packed with texture and flavour, but this was anything but. Oh well. I guess you won’t know until you try. I decided to turn a negative into a positive and to make my own. The most surprising thing is that a bibimbap is not hard to make at all. It typically consists of several raw and cooked elements brought together by the smoky and spicy Gochujang sauce made with Korean chilli peppers. This Korean pre-cursor to a trendy ‘buddha bowl’ should really have it all. It’s filling, delicious and well balanced if done well. Traditional versions feature short grain rice (like sushi rice, for example), but I went for a more nutritious brown rice in this case. Like other dishes made of disparate ingredients that only get unified once the sauce gets stirred through, this dish is a perfect candidate for ingredient batch prepping in advance. Handy if, like me, you get so wrapped up in work that you often lack time to think about lunch. Actually, I am lying, I work with food, so I always have time to think about lunch, but a bit of forward planning for the days when I’m photographing is a real life saver.
100 g / 3½ oz daikon (or radishes) 60 ml / ¼ cup rice wine vinegar + 60-120 ml / ¼-½ cup water 2 tbsp sugar, adjust to taste 1 tsp salt, adjust to taste
DRESSING
2 tbsp Gochujang (Korean chilli paste) 2 tsp rice wine vinegar 1 tbsp soy sauce or tamari for GF version) 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil 1 tbsp maple syrup (or sugar dissolved in soy sauce) 1 small garlic clove, finely grated
DRESSING ASSEMBLY
