Bibimbap

When Greg and I first dated one another, he would take me to the more "high class" restaurants, even for lunch. Then as we went steady, we would frequent "road side" stalls. Now, we just eat at home. Ladies, see the trend? It's not that men are lousy creatures that don't appreciate their wives, but they do change their priorities after marriage, from getting the gal, to making sure they bring food onto the dinner table.

So, enjoy the moment while it lasts, and don't complain if they are working hard to buy you big bling-blings, expensive holidays and a good retirement.

One of the places we usually went to when we were dating were Korean eateries. And this is one dish we would always order, Bi bim bap ~ Korean minced beef with vegetables on rice.

This is a nice, healthy dish. That I can guarantee. With meat and vegetables lightly sauteed and topped with an egg and eaten with Korean chilli paste and rice, we have almost the entire food groups in place in just this one dish.

Serve 2-3:
200gm of minced beef
4-5 pieces of shitake mushrooms
1 no of small japanese cucumber, cut into thin strips
1 no of small carrot, cut into matchsticks thinness
50 gm of bean sprouts
100gm of fernbrake (subject to availabilities)
3 eggs, pan fried with sunny side up.
1 1/2 cup of rice, cooked as you normally would with rice
3 tbsp of korean chilli paste (gochujang)

1) Season minced beef with 1 teasp of garlic, 2 tbsp of korean soya sauce, 1 tbsp of sugar/honey, 1 tbsp of Korean cooking wine/japanese sake, 1/2 teasp of sesame oil. With 1 tbsp of oil, pan fry the beef till almost dry. Set aside.

2) Soak mushrooms in room temperature water till soft and slice thinly and season with 1/2 of the amount of seasoning. Pan fry mushrooms like the beef. Set aside.

3) Lightly pan fry carrots with 1 teasp of oil and salt and pepper to taste to semi cook. Dish out.

4) Lightly pan fry separately cucumber, bean sprouts and fernbrake like carrots. Keep separately.

5) Scoop out rice 2-3 portions into separate bowls. Arrange beef, mushrooms, carrots, cucumber, bean sprouts and fernbrake nicely in a circle. Place a sunny side egg right in the middle for each bowl. Sprinkle with some sesame seeds and sesame oil for extra taste.

6) Serve with chilli paste. To eat, stir everything together with chilli paste.