A vegan version of a Korean classic, these tofu bibimbap rice bowls are filled with veggies and dressed in spicy red pepper sauce.
This is a favorite that I forget often about. For a while I was under the mistaken impression that this dish wasn't doable at home, and since I don't live within convenient distance of any Korean places, I kind of let bibimbap fall off my radar. What a shame.
Whenever I get a craving for Korean food my mind first goes to dishes like kimchi stew or vegan bulgogi.
If you don't live near any Korean restaurants, you may not even know what I'm talking about, but trust me, you want to know.
Bibimbap is a seemingly simple Korean rice bowl that's typically made up of rice topped with veggies, and in traditional versions, meat and a fried egg. I'm told that tofu is totally not traditional, but my old favorite Korean restaurant made it for me that way and it was delicious, so that's how I make my vegan bibimbap now.
The secret is in the sauce. Bibimbap sauce is some of the most insanely flavorful stuff I've ever tasted. Now that I have my own recipe (which is pretty darn easy to make), I might just put it on everything. Gochujang
is the key. This fermented Korean red pepper paste has a deliciously distinctive tang. You can actually get it at lots of regular old supermarkets these days. If yours does't carry it though, try an Asian market or online.
Once I started eating the bibimbap I prepared for this post, all dressed in bibimbap sauce, I realized I had a big problem with my photos. Not that a bowl of veggies and tofu with some sauce on the side isn't great, but you don't get anything near an adequate idea of how freaking delicious bibimbap is until you see the rice and veggies coated in red peppery goodness and stirred up into a big rice bowl mess. Of course, this dawned on my while I was eating my bibimbap, and at that point I sure wasn't stopping for a photo op'. Apologies. <— Since writing that I went and updated the post with snazzy new photos of my sauced-up bowls. See? Delicious!
Another awesome, but by no means necessary, part of many a killer bibimbap, is the stone bowl it's served in, known as a dolsot
. This is what held me back for a while from making my own bibimbap. I thought I absolutely needed the bowl. Now that I have the bowl and started making bibimbap, I know that was pretty silly of me. Don't get me wrong, the bowl is amazing. You heat it up before filling it, so the rice forms a crispy crust everywhere it contacts the bowl, and your food stays sizzling hot through your entire meal. I've included steps in the recipe for how to make dolsot bibimbap if you've got a bowl, but you can ignore them if you don't have a bowl. I love the crispy rice crust that the bowl creates, but I will no doubt be making this on lazier days and skipping the bowl heating step.
Tofu Bibimbap (or Dolsot Bibimpap)
Ingredients
For the Rice
- 1 cup sushi rice
- 1 ½ cups water
- 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
- ¾ teaspoon salt
For the Bibimbap Sauce
- ¼ cup gochujang
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons agave or maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons water
For the Rice Bowls
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 8 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced into strips
- 4 carrots, sliced into matchsticks
- 1 medium zucchini, sliced lengthwise into thin strips
- 1 cup fresh spinach, sliced
- 14 ounces extra firm tofu, drained and pressed at least 15 minutes, and cubed
- ½ cup bean sprouts
- 2 scallions, chopped
- Toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
Prepare the Sushi Rice
-
Place the rice into a fine mesh strainer and rinse it under cold running water until water runs clear, about 1 minute. Place the water, vinegar and salt into small saucepan and set over high heat. Bring the water to a boil. Add the rice, lower heat and cover. Simmer until all of the liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to sit, covered, for at least another 10 minutes.
Prepare the Bibimbap Sauce
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Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl. You can thin with some additional water if needed.
Prepare the Rice Bowls
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If using dolsots, place them in oven and turn on the heat to 450° degrees.
-
Place 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in medium skillet and place over medium-high heat. Add 1 garlic clove and shiitakes mushrooms. Stir-fry until tender, about 3 minutes. Remove the mushrooms from the skillet and transfer to a plate. Keep the skillet over heat.
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Place another 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil into the skillet. Add 1 garlic clove and carrots. Stir-fry until tender-crisp, about 2 minutes. Remove the carrots from the skillet and transfer to a plate. Keep the skillet over heat.
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Place the remaining 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil into skillet. Add 1 garlic clove and zucchini. Stir-fry until tender crisp, about 2 minutes. Remove from the skillet and transfer to a plate. Remove the skillet from heat.
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If using dolsots, remove them from oven. Optionally, if you have a gas stove, you can place them over the burners for a minute or so to get them even hotter. Remove them from the heat and transfer to heat resistant surface.
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Divide the rice into dolsots or 4 conventional bowls. Top with spinach, followed by shiitakes, carrots, zucchini, tofu, bean sprouts, scallions and sesame seeds.
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Serve with bibimbap sauce.
Recipe Notes
I like to leave the tofu uncooked and simply let the rest of the ingredients warm it up when I eat this dish. But free free to pan-fry it using this method if you prefer.
I really really like the recipe. What would you recommend if you can't find Gochujang? Do you think I could substitute Srirarcha?
Thank you! You could give sriracha a try - I think it would be tasty, but you might need to adjust some of the other sauce ingredients a bit. Gochujang is very tangy and much thicker than sriracha. It also has a really distinct flavor, so the sriracha version will definitely be a bit different from conventional bibimbap. I'd love to hear what you think if you give it a try. :)
I've seen some people make "faux" gochujang by using miso, korean chili powder, and sweetener. It is pretty good. But still pretty hard to do since you would still need to buy korean chili powder. You could use something else, but be careful since cayenne would be too hot, though it is the closest thing.
I could definitely see how that might work. The miso has that savory note that would otherwise be missing. Thanks for the tip!
Awesome recipe. I've used sriracha before when making this when I didn't have gochujang on hand... different taste but still a yummy addition. I'd also recommend trying bamboo shoots or daikon in this.
Thanks Michael! I never though to add bamboo shoots or daikon, but I'm a huge fan of both. I'll definitely mange to get at least one of the two in my next batch. Thanks for the idea. :)
Sounds delicious! Did I miss something or are you adding the tofu to the dish uncooked? Does the heat from the dolsot warm it or is it supposed to be cold?
Thank you! And you read right - the tofu goes right in, uncooked. I usually prefer my tofu pan fried, but in this dish I feel like part of the fun is in breaking up the chunks with chopsticks when mixing the sauce in. The rice and veggies should warm it up sufficiently, even more so if served in a dolsot. If you get the dolsot really hot, you can even get some of the tofu to sizzle and crisp-up. You could also certainly pan-fry it before adding it in, if that's how you prefer to roll. :)
Thank you for the speedy reply!
I know what you mean about not having the right vessel holding you back from a traditional food. I used to feel the same way about paella and then got over it and realized I was being silly. I haven't tried making bibimbap before, but this version looks so good I'm gonna have to hunt down some of that chili paste and give it a go!
Thanks for this recipe! Your photos are great, but if you want to be more authentic, you should know that bibimbap, and most other Korean rice-based dishes, are not eaten with chopsticks. Koreans eat bibimbap with a spoon!
Thank you! And wow - I had no idea! The restaurant I used to order it at always served it with chopsticks, but now that you mention it, a spoon does seem much more practical for scraping all the crispy rice from the bottom of the bowl. :)