New Recipe From Natalie's Cooking Club
Hey guys!
I’m super excited to share one of my favorite Korean-Inspired recipes with you. One of my closest childhood friends is Korean so I was lucky enough to be introduced to Kimchi in high school. Kimchi is one of my favorite additions to Power Bowls. It adds so much spicy and tangy flavor and crunch. I always keep a jar of it stashed in my fridge.
This recipe was created by Natalie Bickford, who has been our loyal recipe testing assistant behind-the-scenes on all three of our cookbooks. Her background in nutrition and passion for cooking really shine through in her delicious, nourishing recipes. I'm excited to share a project she's been working on for the past year...
Natalie just launched a brand new service - Natalie Cooks Cooking Club! It’s a membership-based service that provides weekly menus, exclusive recipes, downloadable grocery lists, and cooking videos to help you cook real, nourishing food at home.
The real magic is in the videos where you get to watch Natalie make recipes from start to finish, talk you through how to meal prep for the week, and help you level up your knife skills.
So if you enjoy cooking and want to eat better at home, but run out of ideas or suffer from the decision fatigue of trying to figure out what to eat every night - join Natalie's Club!
Check out her 7-day FREE trial for a little taste! I promise it will save you time, help you become a better cook, and nourish your body with real food.
Find Natalie's recipe for Korean Bibimbap Bowls below (plus a video on how to make it)!
Enjoy! Elyse
Korean Bibimbap Bowls
By Natalie Bickford, MS
Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Watch a video on how to make it!
I had my first bibimbap bowl at a Korean restaurant in Portland and was blown away by how amazing and balanced it was. I knew I had to recreate it! Bibimbap is a korean rice dish that literally translates to “mixing rice”. The authentic way to eat it is to mix everything together in your bowl with chopsticks so that every bite has a little bit of every component and gets coated with the egg yolk.
The ground beef gets cooked, then spiked with ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, and maple syrup for the ultimate sweet, salty, savory bite. It gets accompanied by crunchy, tangy cucumbers, sesame spinach, kimchi (optional but recommended), and a runny fried egg. So many perfect bites!
Ingredients
For the bowls:
1 cup jasmine white rice
1 tsp olive oil
3 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
1 tbsp sesame oil
3-inch knob ginger, peeled, grated (1 tbsp)
1 tbsp maple syrup or honey
¼ tsp red pepper flakes (optional, for spice)
1 bunch scallions, green and white parts separated, thinly sliced
1 lb grass-fed ground beef
4 eggs, fried
Kimchi, optional (or use sriracha for spice)
Sesame seeds, for garnish
For the cucumbers:
1 large or 2 small cucumbers, peeled, thinly sliced
¼ cup rice vinegar
¼ cup water
¼ tsp kosher salt
For the sesame spinach:
1 (16 oz) bag frozen spinach
2 tsp sesame oil
¼ tsp kosher salt
Instructions
Add the rice to a fine mesh strainer and rinse, using your hands to agitate the grains, until the water runs clear. This gets rid of the extra starch so your rice isn’t mushy. Add rice to a medium pot along with 1 ½ cups water over high heat. Once the water starts to simmer rapidly, reduce the heat to low and simmer gently, covered, for about 12-15 minutes, or until the water is evaporated and rice is cooked.
In a medium bowl, mix together the cucumber, vinegar, water and salt. Set aside.
Thaw the spinach. Let cool (if using microwave) and then squeeze out the water either in a colander or wring it out in a kitchen towel. Toss with sesame oil and salt. Set aside. This is best room temp or cold so don’t worry about keeping it warm.
In a small bowl, mix together the soy sauce or tamari, sesame oil, ginger, maple syrup, and red pepper flakes (if using).
In a large skillet over medium heat, add the oil. Once hot, add white parts of the scallions and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add the ground beef, break it up into chunks and spread it out into one even layer. Let cook undisturbed for 5 minutes (to let the beef get browned), stirring halfway through. Continue to break it up into chunks and cook until cooked through. Tilt the pan and spoon/drain off any excess fat.
Add the soy sauce mixture and cook for 1 more minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in half of the green parts of the scallions.
Serve beef with rice, spinach, and cucumber, and a spoonful of kimchi (if using) and top with a fried egg, remaining green scallions, sesame seeds, and sriracha (if using).
Substitutions:
- To make vegetarian: substitute crumbled tofu (drained and pressed) for the beef. To make vegan, skip the fried egg.
- Substitute ground chicken for beef.
- I love cucumber, but you could use radish, carrot, cabbage or any raw crunchy veg (about 2 cups)
Prep:
- Cook 1 cup jasmine white rice
- Make soy ginger mixture
- Cook beef (scallions, beef, soy ginger mixture)
- Pickle cucumbers
- Make sesame spinach
Storage:
Store leftovers separately in an airtight container:
- Rice: up to 5 days in the fridge or up to 3 months in the freezer
- Beef: up to 5 days in the fridge or up to 3 months in the freezer
- Cucumbers: up to 5 days in the fridge
- Sesame spinach: up to 5 days in the fridge
Leftovers + Repurposing:
- Warm up the rice and beef and serve with all of the other cold components. Top with a freshly fried egg, herbs, and sesame seeds.
- Use leftover kimchi in bowls, breakfast tacos, fried rice, or avocado toast!
Join Natalie's Cooking Club for more delicious, nourishing recipes!
Recipe by Natalie Bickford
Photos by Natalie Bickford and Elyse Kopecky