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Rustic Namul Bibimbap. It's an incredible dish to try out different varieties of Korean greens (namul). Namul can be made out of any vegetable, herb or green. Typically, the roots, leaves, stems, or sprouts are quickly blanched, squeezed, then seasoned with soy sauce and tossed with perilla oil. Today, we'll select a few namul and I'll show you how to prep them for bibimbap. You can use the same method for any type of namul. This recipe makes me reminisce of my parent's house back in California and the spacious yard to grow greens!

The key taste variable to any bibimbap (mixed rice) is that spicy gochujang sauce. You want it spicy with a bit of sweetness and a hint of tanginess. Luckily for you, we've nailed down the ratio! It tastes incredible and you're going to love it 🙃

If you're interested in sampling the namul we used in our recipe, you can purchase them from Gochujar:

Zucchini Rounds (known as Hobak Goji in Korean):
Young Rapeseed Leaves (known as Yuchae Leaves in Korean)
Dried Eggplant Strips: Coming Soon

Also a few cooking notes:

Make sure to save some residual rice water (1 cups worth) when washing the rice - we'll use it to boil the namul in later steps
Don't overseason the namul - its okay if it tastes bland. (So stick to 1 small drizzle of soy sauce). Remember, we will add the bibimbap sauce at the end
I like to throw in 1 Tablespoon of perilla powder when boiling the namul. This step is optional, but if you want to purchase, click here.

Alrighty enjoy ya'll! I'm curious to see if you like this more... or the regular bibimbap?

Dan-yul out 🕺

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Rustic Namul Bibimbap

Servings servings

Ingredients

100 grams Short Rib Meat (or use any cut you prefer)
2 Button Mushroom (or Shiitake Mushrooms)
Handful of Dried Zucchini Rounds Namul
Handful of Dried Eggplant Namul
Handful of Dried Yuchae Leaves Namul
1 Egg yolk (Or 1 fried egg)
1 cup of Rice (Save the water from washing the rice!)

Beef Marinade

¼ cup Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Honey
½ Tablespoon Sesame Oil
½ Tablespoon Minced garlic
1 Tablespoon Mirim
⅕ whole Pear or Apple
Few shakes of Black Pepper

Namul Seasoning

1-2 drizzle of Soup Soy Sauce
½ Tablespoon Perilla Oil
1 Tablespoon Perilla Seed Powder (optional)
1 Cup Rice Water (use to boil namul)

Spicy Gochujang Sauce

2 teaspoons Gochujang
1 teaspoon Soy Sauce
1 teaspoon Sesame Oil
1 teaspoon Garlic
½ teaspoon Vinegar
½ teaspoon Sugar
½ teaspoon Sesame Seeds

Instructions

Pre-Cooking Steps: Soak Namul Overnight

Soak your Dried Namul (Zucchini, Eggplant and Yuchae Leaves) in cold water overnight - or at least 6 hours before cooking. Soak each namul in separate bowls. Then, the next day proceed to the following steps.

Make Rice Water

We need rice for bibimbap, so get your rice cooking in the background. The first step in cooking rice is washing it. Throw out the water from the initial rinse. But save the residual water left after the second rinse - we need 1 cup. We will use this rice water when cooking the namul in a later step (reference video for more details - skip to 1:35).

Marinade Beef & Cook

Make the meat marinade by mixing the listed ingredients. Then dice your beef into bite-sized pieces and soak them in the marinade for at least 30 minutes.
Cut the button mushrooms into thin slices.
Place a frying pan on medium-high heat. Place some oil in. Then add the marinated meat pieces and the button mushroom slices. Stir-fry together until meat cooks through and you get a slight browning on the edges of the mushroom. Set aside for later.

Cook Namul

Now back to the namul veggies - which should have soaked overnight. Empty the water out and give them another wash under cold water. After washing them thoroughly, use your hands and squeeze the water out of the veggies. Take out a mixing bowl. Place the squeezed veggies in. Now add-in a drizzle of Soup Soy sauce and Perilla Oil (1T). Toss them and get them coated - it's better to underseason as we will add that flavorful bibimbap sauce later.
Take a frying pan out. Place each namul in separate bundles around the pan. Afterwards, place the pan on a medium-high heat. Now add-in the rice water (1 cup). And season with Perilla Seed Powder (1T) if you like - this is optional. Then wait until the rice water has completely reduced. Turn heat off and set the namul bundles aside for use as topping.

Make Bibimbap Sauce

Make Bibimbap sauce by mixing together all of the listed ingredients. If you're making more than one bowl, we recommend using a Tablespoon measurement instead of the listed teaspoon.

Assemble Bowl

Take out a bowl. Scoop in some fresh, hot rice. Then add your Galbi and Namul pieces on top.
Top the bowl with a raw egg yolk (or fried egg) and good amount of the bibimbap sauce!
Bon Appetit!!