Eat, Mix And Smile

We are huge fans of Thai, Vietnamese and Korean cooking around here. Though we cook these cuisines constantly, I don't often post about them because all my pictures look the same: Blue and white rice bowls, chopsticks and rice topped with___ or rice noodles topped with_____ then maybe an egg on top of _____.

But tonight we're having Bee Bim Bop, a Korean rice bowl that translates as mix-mix bowl and I feel it deserves a shout out. You can serve it with chicken or beef or just the egg if you are not a meat eater. It's simple, delicious and healthy.

I've used a pound of sirloin, thinly sliced against the grain. I marinate it in 5 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of sesame oil, 3 thinly sliced scallions. 2 tablespoons of finely chopped garlic, 1 teaspoon of sugar and freshly ground black pepper.

While this sits, I cook some sticky rice in the rice cooker. Then I finely julienne 2 carrots, dice 2 zucchini, slice up a few mushrooms and clean a handful of spinach.

When rice is cooked, I quickly cook the vegetables separately in canola oil, removing each one when ready, After wilting the spinach I add the beef and stir fry. When beef is browned I pour the rest of the marinade in pan and reduce. A quick fry of one egg per person and it's ready to assemble.

Into the bowl goes the rice, A neat pile of zucchini, another of carrots, you get the idea. Meat in the middle and egg on top. Pour extra sauce in pan over top, a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds if available. I add a dollop of Vietnamese chile-garlic sauce, and then mix-mix and eat- eat.

You'll blow me kisses for this one.