Beef Dolsot Bibimbap

Post-Zumba, so back to the traditional beef bibimbap :) Trying out a new butcher and I have to say, I'm not overwhelmingly impressed with the freshness of their meat so far. I think this weekend we'll go back to our old one, which is conveniently just down the road, but less conveniently, not open on Sunday.

Tofu Dolsot Bibimbap

Just love this meal. Tonight instead of the usual beef, we fried strips of tofu rubbed in Chinese five-spice until crispy, and served it with a more European melange of vegetables - celery, silverbeet and carrots. The usual kimchi and sweet chilli sauce also featured, of course! We improvised heat mats with some spare tiles from the garage, turned upside down...

Dolsot Bibimbap (Korean Stone Pots)

While I was Zumba-ing, my most excellent husband-chef prepared all the bits for a delicious pair of dolsot bibimbaps. Tonight we had white rice, very rare, thinly sliced spiced beef from yesterday, stir-fried broccoli and carrots with a slosh of water-thinned soy sauce, and an innovation with the eggs! We've found that the clay pots we bought have less thermal capacity than the stone pots used in some restaurants, so entirely raw eggs don't go as crispy on the bottom of the pot as one would like. However it's completely unacceptable to overcook the yolk - raw yolk is one of life's great pleasures. So tonight we fried the white of the egg, then snipped it into strips, and popped the raw yolk on top of the hot pot at the last second, along with fried slivers of garlic. No kimchi tonight (the store was closed at 5pm; thanks, Perth!) but sweet chilli sauce was perfect with the soft rice, gooey yolk and spicy beef. Delish!

Dolsot Bibimbap

This is one of my favourite Korean dishes, which I discovered at a brilliant Korean restaurant in Cambridge, Little Seoul. The basic ingredients are white rice, an egg, and a mixture of stir-fried vegetables and meat, and it's best served with the traditional kimchi.The trick to the meal is that for each person, you heat their very own stone or clay pot in the oven, then add the ingredients at the last minute and bring it sizzling to the table. The egg should be fried sunny-side, or even dropped in raw at the last second, so that each person can break it into the rice and cook it to their own liking. It's delicious and really interactive.

From the moment I tried it, I wanted to make it at home, but I waited until the move to Australia was over to go out and buy the pots - the less we had to move, the better! Tonight I went for a really simple version since it was my first time preparing it. Surprisingly, it only took about half an hour to prepare - just like a stir fry really, but with the added fun of the hot pot.

Ingredients

• two clay or stone pots, from your local Asian supermarket
• 200-300g white rice, depending on how hungry you are!
• 200-300g eye fillet or other good cut of beef
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 carrot
• 4 thin spring onions
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp rice wine
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 eggs

Put the pots in the oven and set it to 220C. Cook the white rice at a simmer with a 2:1 ratio of water to rice; it should take about ten minutes. Finely slice the beef into wide, flat pieces, then stir fry in a hot wok until just cooked, then remove to a bowl (without paper). Finely mince the garlic and finely slice the spring onions. Cut the carrot in half lengthways and cut thin, flat, diagonal slices from it. Stir fry the vegetables together for a couple of minutes, until cooked but still crisp. Return the beef to the pan, along with the oil, sugar, wine and soy sauce and allow to bubble through for a minute or two. Fry the two eggs sunny-side up, while you ladle rice and the cooked meat and vegetables into the pots. Add the eggs at the last second then serve immediately with kimchi, sweet chilli sauce and soy sauce.

Hameul Pajeon

Ahh, the Korean seafood pancake! From the first time I had it in our local Korean restaurant, I was hooked. The simplest form is makde with flour, water, a little egg and shredded spring onions. It's so easy that I've even made it on a yacht at 45 degrees heel - admittedly, the cooker was on gimbals. My only difficulty is making it thin enough; over the years I have added more and more batter until it has come out quite thick and glutinous. Recently I went back to Little Seoul and ordered it again, and realised that while it is a thicker pancake than a crepe, it is still thin enough to cook through when crisped up on both sides. Therefore I suggest using a pancake pan rather than a frying pan, and only add enough extra ingredients as your batter can take. The recipe below serves four people as a side dish or starter.

Ingredients:
For the pancake:

• 1 egg
• 1 cup plain all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cold water
• 5 medium spring onions
• 1/2 cup of cooked brown shrimp or other small seafood, drained of any excess water

For the dipping sauce:

• 1/4 cup of medium soy sauce (or diluted down dark soy sauce)
• 1/2 clove garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 spring onion, finely minced
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes (optional)

Combine the dipping sauce ingredients, whisking gently so the oil is mixed through. Leave to the side while you prepare the pancakes so that the flavours can mellow together.

Break the egg into a bowl and whisk until the yolk and white are combined. Add in half the flour and a quarter of the water and whisk until smooth. Add the rest of the flour and water and combine into a fairly smooth batter, but don't over-beat or the gluten will become tough. Clean, top and tail, slice along the length of the spring onions, and roughly shred, separating the layers. Stir into the batter.

Heat a few tbsp of vegetable oil in a pancake pan until shimmering. Pour in the batter and spread out to the edges with a spatula. Add the shrimp and push them into the batter with the spatula. Cook for about five minutes on a moderate heat, until the bottom is golden brown. Either flip carefully with a large slice-spatula, or slide onto a plate and quickly overturn back into the pan. Cook for a further 3-4 minutes until the other side is done. Rest for a minute or two before slicing into strips or triangles and serve with the dipping sauce.