cook: bibimbap my way

I clipped or copied yet again ANOTHER recipe from the New York Times Cooking newsletter; and I finally had occasion to make Eric Kim's recipe for an easy Korean meal.  T'was the night before Thanksgiving and at a loss for what to eat before nonstop feasting, I still wanted to cook, but something not too stodgy and loaded with vegetables.

                               

And I always read other cooks' comments before cooking any New York Times recipe.

Yes to more mushrooms because I found both oyster and king at Trader Joe's as well as a sweet potato, but alas the store was out of gochuchang paste. I also had kale leftover again from Trader Joe's which had gone into my black bean chili as well as sugar snap peas in my fridge. I sometimes cook kimchi fried rice with an egg on top, and for this bibimbap, I opted for no fried egg on top, which would be too similar. And so in the mad rush of shoppers at Trader Joe's the day before Thanksgiving, I opted to buy frozen bulgogi instead for my bibimbap. Luckily, I had gochuchang sauce already into which I added toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, sugar, and toasted sesame seeds, AND also had cooked white and brown jasmine rice earlier in the week.                     

Supper super success.

This Korean rice bowl that you bibimbap or "mix mix" before you eat is going into my regular meal rotation. It's so easy to just roast everything on the sheet pan, and per other readers' suggestion, I added the kale and red onion on to the sheet pan the last 10 minutes of roasting and mixed everything to prevent the kale from getting too crunchy or burnt and for it to pick up some moisture from the other vegetables. As mentioned, I didn't fry an egg, nor did I warm my rice on the sheet pan, but instead microwaved the leftover grain. The creative possibilities are now endless--I see change-ups with carrots, bok choi, chicken, salmon, green onion, bean sprouts, broccoli, etc. for future bowls of bibimbap.