Why Dolsot Bibimbap Is Such a Popular Dish

There are many Korean dishes which strike the fancy of individuals interested in this type of cuisine.  However, one of the more popular ones which is frequently ordered at korean restaurants is dolsot bibimbap.  Dolsot bibimbap is a combination of marinated beef, rice, kimchi, egg, gochujang and an assortment of vegetables.  These ingredients are placed in a heated bowl, known as the dolsot, and served to the customer.  This dish is such an all-encompassing one that few need accompanying menu items alongside of their dolsot bibimbap.  There are a few reasons why dolsot bibimbap is such a popular dish.

First, the dish itself is one which comprises the entire meal.  With dolsot bibimbap, you have your protein and vegetables all combined into one dish which makes it an easy meal to order or to make.  Many individuals like the idea of having one meal which covers all bases.  It is usually such a good amount of food that one leaves the table feeling full and satisfied.

Another reason why dolsot bibimbap is such a popular entrée is that it is quite healthy in nature.  The vegetables provide one with the nutrition they need for the day while the meat component provides one with adequate protein.  Since many individuals these days are interested in promoting a healthy lifestyle, being able to eat out and enjoy a healthy meal is an important concept and another reason why individuals like to eat dolsot bibimbap.

Dolsot bibimbap is also traditional with a modern flair to it.  This Korean dish has been served for over 100 years but has become more popular as the years progressed.  It takes a traditional idea, such as serving the bibimbap in a dolsot, but consists of modern ingredients which diners are interested in eating.

Lastly, dolsot bibimbap is quite easy to make.  All one needs in order to enjoy this dish are some dolsots, meat, rice, eggs, gochujang and a variety of vegetables.  Most of these items are present within one’s kitchen which makes throwing together a delicious meal an easy feat to accomplish.

Traditional Korean Food Ingredients

If you’ve ever gone to a Korean restaurant and tried a dish or two, chances are you fell in love with this fantastic cuisine. Korean food is some of the most varied and wonderful food in the world. But many of those that try it (and would love to be able to make it at home) feel a little intimidated by some strange-sounding ingredients and unusual recipes. However, it really is simple. All you need to make great Korean dishes at home is the right Korean food ingredients

Three Important Korean Seasonings

Gan jang: Gan jang is the term for one of the most important (and easy to find) Korean food ingredients: Korean soy sauce. Soy sauce is widely used for salt and flavor throughout Korean cuisine.

Gochujang: If you like your Korean food spicy, that means you love Gochujang. A kind of heavy hot sauce, gochujang is generally made from red chili powder, glutinous rice powder, powdered fermented soybeans, and salt. It’s used as an ingredient in many dishes, as well as a condiment. One of this Korean food ingredient’s most famous uses is as a condiment for bibimbap.

Doenjang (or Dwen jang): This is a fermented soybean paste, and is considered essential to Korean cuisine. It is used in a huge variety of dishes, including on its own as a condiment, mixed to create another condiment (called ssamjang) or to flavor stews, broths, and other dishes.

The Main Korean Food Ingredients

Ssal: Ssal is simply rice… but there’s really nothing simple about it. Unlike in many cultures, Koreans don’t prefer soft and fluffy rice. In Korean cooking, a short-grained, sticky rice is used, instead.

Baechu: Baechu, or Napa cabbage, is one of the most important Korean food ingredients you can find. It is often used in soups, or eaten raw as a wrap. Most importantly, though, baechu is used in baechu kimchi, the most popular type of Korean kimchi (see below).

Kimchi (or Gimchi): Kimchi is a vegetable dish eaten in Korea with just about every meal. Though it can be made differently each time, it is generally made with various vegetables and is fermented and highly spiced. It is both used as a side dish (called a banchan), as well as an ingredient in other Korean dishes.

Biji (or Kongbiji): When soybeans are blended in order to create soy milk, a fibouous pulp is left behind. This is biji, and is used throughout Korea and the rest of Asia as an ingredient in stews and soups, as well as bread products.

Other Korean Seasonings and Sauces

Ggaet nip: Ggaet nip, called sesame leaf, is a member of the mint family, and is used both as a spice for stews and other dishes, and a wrap for meats and seafood.

Ssamjang: When the Korean food ingredients gochujang and doenjang are combined with sesame oil, onion, garlic, and scallions as a condiment, the result is ssamjang. Ssamjang is a spicy sauce used as an addition to grilled dishes such as samgyeopsal.

Red bean paste: Red bean paste is used throughout Asian cooking. In Korea, it is used in snacks and desserts, such as bungeoppang and hotteok. It’s also traditional in Korea to eat red bean paste at the winter solstice in order to warm the body and keep you healthy through the winter.

The Korean Chile Pepper—There Really Is Nothing Like It

Korean foods are finding their way into the spotlight more and more.  Recently Iron chef Mario Batali won a challenge with the Korean dish dolsot bibimbap or dolsotbibimbap and Rachael Ray of The Food Network lists Korean recipes. As more recipes for Korean dishes crop up to meet consumer demand, one of the most frequent ingredients called for is ground red pepper. Often, authors claim that any red pepper will do. This is not the case, as I found out the first time I left home.

When I moved to Vermont I was well-prepared with kimchee-making skills. What I didn’t count on was the unavailability of necessary ingredients. As anyone who has ever been homesick knows, nothing can comfort you more than that taste of home.

My first batch of kimchee was so off. I wasn’t new to the practice of making this Korean dish and soon realized that the red pepper was the culprit. I scoured the state, touring natural foods and gourmet stores. I shopped at Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese groceries. Alas, no Korean market existed. Batch after batch, and I could not duplicate kimchee from home. There was nothing to be done for it until my mother sent me a care package of Korean red pepper.

I picked up an Asian cookbook one day and read about the distinctive flavor of the Korean red chile. This author explained how the unique geography of Korea, its sea air, mountainous regions, soil and water contributed to the one and only kochu, a pepper that tastes like no other.

Kochu is a member of the capsicum pepper family. When ground it is called kochu garu, gochukaru or gokchu garu. Gokchu garu is used to make gochujang a hot pepper paste that is a common ingredient in dolsot bibimbap or dolsotbimbap, the dish most representative of Korea.

The chile was introduced to Korea in the 17th century by the Japanese, who were loathe to give up their monopoly on “japanese mustard” as Portuguese missionaries called it. They claimed that the plant could only grow in its native environments, Central and South America. Korea finally did gain the seeds to grow the chile and is now exports over 1 million kg. per year.

Before the chile, Korean dishes did not include red pepper, a now unimaginable phenomenon. Korean recipes for kimchee consisted of greens, salt and alcohol. Today, there is a claim that Koreans have the highest per capital chile consumption in the world.

Korean food absolutely requires Korean red pepper to taste authentic. Whether you’re making dolsot bibimbap/dolsotbibimbap or other Korean dishes, to really follow a Korean recipe that calls for red pepper, you must get your gokchu garu.

Korean Dolsot Bibimbap: Tastier than the Sum of its Parts

If you’ve never tried dolsot bibimbap, you’ve been missing out on one of the tastiest dishes in Korean cuisine.  Heck… in any cuisine.  While it sounds pretty simple on paper (as you’ll see as you read on), in reality the combination of ingredients used to make this dish makes for something surprising, wonderful… and remarkably healthy.

So, what sets dolsot bibimbap apart from plain old Korean bibimbap?  Simply put, it’s the temperature. Regular bibimbap consists of warm or cold rice served up in a bowl and covered with assorted seasoned veggies (called namul), meat, a fried egg, and a wonderful chili sauce (called gochujang).  Dolsot bibimbap is just… well… hotter. Doesn’t sound like it would make a big difference, right?

But it does. Simply serving a bibimbap in a hot bowl (this is called a dolsot –hence the name) takes an already-wonderful Korean dish to a mind-boggling level of deliciousness.  The dolsot is heated approximately to the level of the molten lava, and the inside is covered with sesame or olive oil before the warmed rice is added.  The rice touching the bowl gets crisp and fried and, well… indescribably delicious.  This almost-burnt rice is called nurungi, and is so wonderful that they actually sell it on its own as a snack in Korean grocery stores.

Eating a Korean Dolsot Bibimbap

When you make a dolsot bibimbap (or order one at your favorite Korean restaurant), it comes out sizzling, smelling wonderful, and very pretty.  But it won’t stay pretty for long– because you’ve got to add plenty of gochujang chili sauce and mix it all up into a tasty homogenized mess before eating.  A raw egg is generally floating up on top of the rest of the ingredients, bright and gooey and a little strange-looking.  But don’t worry– the bazillion degree heat of the dolsot will cook the egg as you mix, making it creamy and delicious.

What’s in Your Dolsot Bibimbap?

While all dolsot bibimbaps are similar in concept, the ingredients can vary widely.  Like regular Korean bibimbap, this dish was originally considered a good way to use up leftover rice and vegetables.  So while you’re probably not using leftovers at home (or eating them in a Korean restaurant), almost any ingredient can be tossed into your dolsot bibimbap.  And it’ll all taste good– that much I can promise you.

Though you can toss just about anything into your bibimbap, some of the most popular Korean ingredients you’ll find in them are:

* Rice or a multi-grain rice mixture.
* Sesame or olive oil.
* Assorted raw, blanched, or cooked and seasoned veggies.  These include carrots, squash, soybean sprouts, red cabbage, mushrooms (generally shitaki), burdock root, fern stems (called gosari), and others.
* Fried ginkgo nuts.
* Meat (generally beef), or Korean bulgogi, a meat mix made with wine, garlic, onion, and pineapple, among other things — so delicious!
* Egg (generally raw, though it can be fried first).
* Toasted sesame seeds.
* Gochujang sauce (sometimes spelled Kochujang).  This sauce is both sweet and spicy, but generally not too spicy.  Use it generously.

You’ll find a wide combination of these and more ingredients in a dolsot bibimbap.  And even if the idea of eating that many vegetables doesn’t excite your inner glutton… don’t listen to him.  All veggies or no, dolsot bibimbap is a Korean delicacy you won’t want to miss out on.