Hi all,
Today we will talk about bibimbap. Bibimbap is a traditional dish that has become a signature of Korean cuisine in the world.
The word bibimbap means literally “mixed rice” and its main ingredients are steamed rice, vegetables and red pepper paste. There are many versions of this dish that include meat, egg and sea food but for our project we tried one of the most famous bibimbap: Jeonju bibimbap.
One peculiarity of the Jeonju bibimbap is that it contains more ingredients that other versions of bibimbap and this makes it more rich and colourful. Another characteristic is that the rice is cooked in beef broth instead of plain water in order to make it more tasty.
The ingredients of this version of bibimbap include: steamed rice, raw egg yolk, red pepper paste, bean sprouts, steamed radish, courgette, mushroom, mixed nuts (grilled ginko seed, sliced chestnut, jujube and pine nuts), and fried grinded beef meat.
The bibimbap was served with several side-dishes (banchan): fried tofu, watery soy bean sprouts soup (the bean sprouts used for the soup are coming from the north Jolla province and they are know for keeping their crispiness even if cooked for long time), white kimchi, kimchi, soybean soup, spicy soybean sprouts with sesame seeds, mushrooms with onions and garlic chives.
This was one of the best bibimbap I have tried so far and the atmosphere of the restaurant made this dinner a very pleasant experience. Although the price is higher than the average (around 18,000 won) is definitely worth it.
We had Jeonju bibimbap in a chain restaurant 고궁 (kogung) that serves traditional Korean food and is located in Ssamzi-gil Insadong. If you are around I suggest you to visit this place.
Stay tuned of the next “tasty” post.
V&N