This iconic Korean rice bowl is flavor packed with red cabbage, carrots, pickled cucumbers, kimchee, marinated Texas Gulf shrimp, and a fried egg—all wrapped in a smoky, savory, slightly sweet, slightly spicy sauce.

Serves four bowls.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup red cabbage, sliced thin into long strips
  • 1 cup carrots, sliced into long strips
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
  • 1 cup quick pickled cucumbers
  • 1 pound large Texas wild-caught shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • olive oil
  • 6 cups cooked short grain rice
  • 4 eggs, fried or sunny side up
  • kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • bibimbap sauce (see recipe)
  • kimchee and sliced scallions

Bibimbap Sauce (makes 1 cup)

  • 1/2 cup gochujang (spicy Korean pepper taste)
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons sesame oil
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

Quick Pickled Cucumbers (makes about 1 cup)

  • 1/2 cucumber
  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
  • 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Preparation

  • Heat a sauce pan half full of water over high heat until it begins to boil. Take the cabbage and the carrots and blanch them separately in the boiling water for ten seconds each, then quickly scoop them out of the water.
  • Set the blanched carrots and red cabbage separately into two small bowls and add half of the garlic and sesame oil into each bowl and toss with the vegetables. Season them each accordingly with salt and pepper.
  • Preheat your oven’s broiler to high.
  • Place all the shrimp in a bowl and toss with ¼ cup of the bibimbap sauce, until evenly coated. Lightly oil a baking sheet and then spread the shrimp across the sheet in a single layer.
  • Put the tray of shrimp under the broiler and cook for about four minutes, turn the shrimp over and cook for another three minutes or until the shrimp have charred slightly and are cooked all the way through, so that the center is no longer opaque. Remove them from the oven and keep warm.
  • Begin to assemble the bibimbap by dividing the rice evenly between four warm serving bowls.
  • Serve along with a side dish of bibimbap sauce, kimchee and scallions for each diner to top their bowl as desired.

Bibimbap Sauce

  • Place all ingredients in a small bowl and mix together.
  • Serve at room temperature.

Quick Pickled Cucumbers

  • Toss all ingredients together is a small bowl and allow to marinate for 30 minutes before serving. Drain off any liquid from the bowl after they have marinated and keep refrigerated until ready to use.