This roasted vegetable bibimbap brings balance to every bite

Bibimbap is a riot of flavour: a bowl of rice and vegetables with maybe some meat and maybe an egg and probably a sauce that scratches an itch for uma...

Bibimbap is a riot of flavour: a bowl of rice and vegetables with maybe some meat and maybe an egg and probably a sauce that scratches an itch for umami, sweetness, tang and spice. This recipe for bibimbap is adapted from Seji Hong’s "Korean Made Easy,” a fantastic introduction to homestyle Korean cooking. Hong is the founder of BomBom sauces, a UK-based line of savory condiments.

Personally, I would put bibimbap in my favourite savory meal category, "stuff on rice.” Except "bibimbap” means "mixed rice,” and that’s because, traditionally, it’s a bowl of rice with stuff on top that the diner then mixes together, with crispy or chewy bits and slick or saucy bobs interspersed with lots of warm, fluffy rice.

Hong’s recipe is for a vegetarian Yachae Bibimbap (Roasted Vegetable Bibimbap). It’s especially home-cook-friendly because, while the rice cooks - in your rice cooker or on your stove - the stuff (a medley of vegetables) roasts on a sheet pan in the oven. 

As all that is happening, you stir together a five-ingredient sauce. A few minutes before you want to eat, you’ll crack a couple of eggs into the now-browned and gorgeous vegetables on the sheet pan and close the oven door until they’re cooked to your liking.

This recipe calls for kale, onions, peppers, zucchini and mushrooms, but you can use whatever you have on hand. That said, it’s not just nice to see a variety of colors in the bowl; it’s tradition.