Yachaejeon Bibimbap (Korean Vegetable Rice Bowl)

Rinse the rice in cold water until the water runs clear. Place in a saucepan with 420ml cold water and a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to the lowest setting, cover tightly, and cook for 13 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to steam, still covered, for 10 minutes. Do not lift the lid during cooking or steaming. While the rice cooks, make the bibimbap sauce: combine the gochujang, tamari, rice vinegar, coconut sugar, grated garlic, and warm water in a small bowl. Stir until the sugar dissolves and the sauce is smooth and glossy. Taste — it should be fiery, deeply savoury, and faintly sweet with a sharp vinegar edge. Traditional bibimbap sauce contains sesame oil and sesame seeds, but this version is completely sesame-free without any compromise on depth or heat. The gochujang carries all the complexity you need. Set the sauce aside — it keeps well covered at room temperature while you prepare the vegetables.

The defining characteristic of bibimbap is that every vegetable is cooked and seasoned individually before being arranged in the bowl — this is what gives the dish its distinctive flavour complexity and its beautiful composed appearance. Heat a teaspoon of neutral oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the carrot matchsticks with a pinch of salt and stir-fry for 2–3 minutes until just tender but still with a little bite. Transfer to a plate. In the same pan, add another teaspoon of oil and stir-fry the courgette matchsticks with a pinch of salt and half a grated garlic clove for 2 minutes until softened and lightly golden at the edges. Transfer to a separate section of the plate. Add the sliced shiitake mushrooms with a teaspoon of tamari and a little garlic and cook for 3–4 minutes until deeply golden and slightly caramelised. Transfer to the plate. Blanch the beansprouts in boiling water for 1 minute, drain, and season with a pinch of salt and a few drops of tamari. Wilt the spinach in the pan with a teaspoon of oil and a pinch of salt for 1 minute until just collapsed. Keep all the vegetables separate and at room temperature — they will be arranged in distinct sections in the bowl.

Heat a teaspoon of neutral oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Crack the eggs in one at a time and fry sunny-side up for 2–3 minutes until the whites are fully set but the yolks are still runny — the runny yolk is essential to bibimbap, as it breaks over the rice and vegetables when mixed and acts as a natural sauce that binds everything together. Season with a pinch of salt and white pepper. If you prefer a fully set yolk, cover the pan with a lid for the last minute of cooking. For a vegan version, omit the egg entirely and add an extra spoonful of bibimbap sauce — the dish is still deeply satisfying without it.

Divide the cooked rice between four wide, deep bowls — a generous mound in the centre of each. Arrange the seasoned vegetables in distinct, separate sections around the rice, working clockwise: spinach, beansprouts, carrot, courgette, and shiitake mushrooms. Each vegetable should occupy its own clearly defined section so the bowl looks like a composed wheel of colour. Place a fried egg on top of the rice in the centre of each bowl. Spoon a generous tablespoon of the gochujang bibimbap sauce over the egg and rice. Scatter sliced spring onions over the top. Serve immediately with the remaining sauce on the side and kimchi if using. To eat, mix everything together vigorously with a spoon — the runny yolk, the sauce, the rice, and all the vegetables combine into something far greater than the sum of their parts.