A few days ago, my second episode on Cooking Possible aired, and this time, the theme was all about rice. It’s one of the most basic ingredients in Korean cuisine, but maybe that’s why it’s also so tricky to work with. It’s easy to get the simple things wrong! The second challenge in this episode was to recreate Korean bibimbap with Indian ingredients—it was tricky but I think this turned out well! If you’re in India and craving the flavor of Korean gochujang, this recipe uses the fermented and gamchil (umami) flavors of Indian soy sauce and tomatoes. It’s based off of an Indian chutney recipe, so it should be pretty familiar to Indian readers. Besides, these ingredients are pretty widely available around the world, so just about anyone could give it a go. Enjoy!
ingredients:
For stock:
1 one-kilo whole chicken, 100g white onion, 50g celery, 50g carrot, 1 tsp whole black pepper, 1 bay leaf
For Indian gochujang:
100g cherry tomatos (well ripened), 30g garlic (freshly peeled), 100g red onion, 3 tsp Kashmiri chili powder, 2 tsp soy sauce, 1 tsp chili flakes, 1 tsp salt
Main ingredients:
2 cups basmati rice, 4 cups chicken stock
Toppings:
60g mung bean sprouts, 60g white button mushroom, 100g eggplant, 200g chicken breast, 60g onion, 60g green bean, 3 eggs, 60g zucchini, 60g cucumber
For seasoning:
salt, vegetable oil, sesame oil, black pepper
For chicken marinade:
4 tsp soy sauce, 2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp chopped garlic, drizzle of sesame oil
1. Separate the chicken breast and set aside. Use the remaining carcass for your chicken stock. Boil the carcass with the other stock ingredients for about 2 hours. Strain it and keep the stock.
2. To make Indian gochujang, roughly chop and sauté the onion and garlic until the onion becomes translucent. Add the tomato and chili powder and keep sautéing. When they are mostly cooked you can blend the ingredients together in a blender.
3. Use a mandolin to slice your cucumber into thin circles (not paper thin, around 1mm) and cure with a little bit of salt. After 20 minutes, squeeze out excess moisture and set aside.
4. Marinate the chicken breast in the ingredients listed above.
5. Cook your rice using the chicken stock in place of plain water.
6. Blanch your mung bean sprouts and green beans and shock them in an ice bath. Slice the green beans diagonally into thin strips. Squeeze out some of the moisture from the mung beans and season with a little bit of salt and sesame oil.
7. Julienne the rest of the vegetables (onion, eggplant, zucchini, carrots and white button mushrooms) and sauté with a mixture of vegetable oil and sesame oil. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Separate the egg yolks and whites and whisk each. Dab a paper towel in some vegetable oil and coat a non-stick frying pan well with the oil. Start with the yolks on medium-low heat—spread the whisked yolks thinly on the pan (around 2mm or so). When the color becomes half-opaque, flip, cook for 10 seconds and remove from the pan. Then do the same for the egg whites. You shouldn’t have any brown spots on your egg crepes. Once they’ve cooled, julienne them. You’ll have extra egg leftover, but cooking just one yolk and one white at a time tends to give you uneven results. The amount you use is up to you.
9. Sauté your marinated chicken breasts with the mixture of vegetable and sesame oil on high heat. Try to get a nice golden-brown color.
10. Place your rice in a nice bowl and decorate with your vegetables and chicken, adding a spoonful of the Indian gochujang in the center. Garnish with a handful of cucumber then the julienned egg crepe above the gochujang.
You can watch the full episode here: