I have a confession to make: I’m not a very good cook.

I’ve always loved baking, and that’s usually been my specialty. I’ve never really found cooking itself fun or easy. But lately I am trying to branch out and try new things because I’m ready to learn better ways to cook! I grew up eating mostly boxed, canned, and frozen foods so cooking was never a big part of our life unfortunately.

So this is technically my first official recipe on Sassy Holistics, can you believe it?!

A few weeks ago, my husband decided to try a trial of one of those meal plan services where they send you all of the ingredients to make a few meals as well as detailed instructions. One of the recipes was Bibimbap, and since I’ve been wanting to try Korean food lately (thanks to my obsession with BTS! If you don’t know about them, you can read a bit about why I love them so much in this post on self-love and self-care!), I was so excited.

I followed their recipe and it was so good! Since they only send enough to make one meal, I decided to stock up on some ingredients that would allow me to make the dish more often. I say that this is an inspired version of bibimbap because I know that it’s not an authentic Korean dish- but I definitely took inspiration from it, and plan on doing more variations in the future.

Over the last few months, we’ve been dealing with a lot of stress so cooking has not been one of the easiest things to keep up with. I wanted to change that and get back into more healthy eating, and I decided to share this recipe with everyone because it is easy, delicious, and there are so many ways you can make it so you’ll enjoy it.

There are SO many ways to make bibimbap and this is just 1 possible interpretation. I plan on finding some gochujang sauce to try it out for next time, and I’m going to stock up on more traditional spices, oils, and sauces as well. Hopefully this is just my first step into a new phase of cooking!  

How I Make Korean Inspired Bibimbap

There are countless ways to make this dish, and this is just the way I’ve been currently making it.

• 2-4 Servings
• 15 minutes of prep
• 30 minutes of cook time (about)

  Ingredient List:

• 1 large or 2-3 smaller zucchini
• 3-4 carrots
• 4 ounces Button or Baby Bella mushrooms
• 2 scallions
• 1 thumb ginger root
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2/4 cup rice of choice (Jasmine, basmati, Sona Masoori)
• 8-10 ounces grass-fed ground beef
• 4-5 Tablespoons sauce of choice (we love either Organic Asian Fusion Sesame Teryaki Sauce or Bulgogi sauce)
• 1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
• Unrefined sea salt and black pepper to taste

  Instructions:

1. Get your rice cooking- cooking times will depend on the type of rice you are using. Once it’s done, take it off the burner and set aside. You can start on the produce prep as the rice is cooking.
2. Wash, dry, and start chopping up your produce. Halve your zucchini and then slice into half moons. Trim your mushrooms and slice thinly. Trim and thinly slice your scallions, but separate the greens and whites.
3. Peel your carrots and shave them into ribbons. Rotate the carrots as you go and shave as closely to the core as you can. (Once it gets really thin I just munch on the rest!). Peel and mince your garlic and ginger.
4. Add your scallion whites to a small bowl and let them pickle with the ACV and a pinch of unrefined sea salt. Let soak throughout the rest of the cooking. Here you can also make an alternative sauce: combine 1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil, 4 tablespoons organic soy sauce, 1 Tbsp brown sugar, and if spice is desired a little sriracha or gochujang sauce. I couldn’t find these ingredients locally, so I decided to go with the Organic Asian Fusion Teriyaki sauce since it had similar ingredients. There is also an amazing Bulgogi sauce at Whole Foods that goes very well with this dish. Now we use the Bulgogi sauce with 1-2 tsps of Gochujang as well for a bit of kick.
5. Start cooking your veggies, and it’s best to do them separately if possible. Use a high quality oil (olive oil, avocado oil- whatever good oil you tend to use for cooking with heat). Drizzle oil in pan, cook zucchini for about 4-5 minutes on medium-high heat, stirring until tender. Cook carrots and mushrooms each in oil as well for 3-5 minutes each, adding a little salt and pepper to eat. Set aside all of the cooked veggies.
6. Add another bit of oil to the pan (keeping it at medium-high heat) and saute your garlic and ginger until fragrant, just about 30 seconds. Add the grass-fed beef and cook until lightly brown, about 4-5 minutes. Drain fat if needed, and continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes or until browned and fully cooked. Add about 2-3 Tablespoons of whichever sauce you are using and cook just a bit longer.
7. Add rice to bowls, and arrange the veggies and beef on top. Drain your pickled scallions and top the dish with these. Add another few tablespoons of the sauce you’re using, garnish with the green scallions. Mix and enjoy!

Kristin

Welcome to Sassy Holistics! My name is Kristin, and I'm a Holistic Health Coach. I've been on the path to help people achieve better health using whole food nutrition, mineral balancing, and holistic healing principles for almost 7 years now.

The body is a whole and we must treat it as such! I have my Bachelor of Science in Natural Health Sciences, certificates in Herbal Studies from Herbal Academy, and I am constantly learning more about health to help my clients and followers.

My goal is to help you unleash your own inner healer! You already hold the power to heal inside you. My role is as a guide to help you realize this potential.