When I was little we rented an old house on Spruce Street that had a cherry tree in the front yard. The house had a huge staircase when you entered and beautiful wood floors throughout. The kitchen was old and big and I spent a lot of my days on the counter watching my parents cook. We had fresh milk delivered in glass bottles on the back porch. Through our backyard you could see the hot tub store on the corner (if that doesn’t scream the ’70s, I don’t know what does). They had hot tubs on the roof and you could rent them hourly. At night we could see people up there staring at the stars and singing… naked, ahem.

Every night we would sit down for dinner in our wallpaper clad dining room (Wes Anderson would be jealous), and my parents would put the record player on. It was old, with brown panelling, like everything in the late ’70s and early ’80s. My Dad was hyper sensitive about the needle and we had to take extreme care if we wanted to put the records on ourselves. As soon as we finished eating we would start dancing. It was often The Harder They Come by Jimmy Cliff – we loved ‘Sweet and Dandy,’ ‘Johnny Too Bad,’ and ‘You Can Get it if You Really Want,’ or Walking on Sunshine by Eddy Grant and we’d sing along ‘oh mamma mamma you’ve got me livin’ on the front line’, or it could be Simon and Garfunkel, The Rolling Stones, or Muddy Waters.  We would all just dance and dance and dance. These are perhaps some of my greatest memories of my childhood, which while not idyllic (whose was?), had it’s supremely beautiful moments.

I was born into music. I have few memories that are not directly linked to specific songs or albums. The lifestyle that my parents, perhaps unknowingly, created with our after dinner dance parties, is a great one. Now, when I cook and eat with Mr. Wonderful and the Little Dove, there is always music on. And we were listening to some great tunes when I created this dish. So slap on some wax, or turn on your iTunes, however you bring music into your world, turn it up, move your body, and make this now.

Dang! We ate this the other night and I had to get it on the blog ASAP. I seriously couldn’t wait, amaa gaaad it’s that good. It’s easy, delish, super healthy, and gorgeous. To be honest, I feel kind of last-season that I haven’t made this before. I love me some bibimbap, but I’ve always been intimidated to make it at home, using all the common excuses: ‘I don’t know how to pickle kimchi. What are those other yummy veggies in there? They won’t have those at my grocery store. What’s in that sauce, gluten, msg? Fuggedaboudit. I’ll just go to the great Korean place in town.’ BUT NOW, but now, my dear dear friends, I broke through and found that sometimes compromising and monkey-ing with tradition a bit can be rewarding in it’s own way. Letting go of the perfection ideal can lead to some magical creations (a lesson I have to remind myself of daily hourly).

No gochujang? No problem! No fresh kimchi? No problem! No bulgogi? No problem! While this isn’t a fully traditional bibimbap, it’s packed with sabor and is really, in all honesty, going to knock your socks off. I made a make-shift gochujang sauce that was really good and hot damn spicy (the recipe is below too) and I bought, yes bought, some jarred kimchi at the store (*gasp* so not hipster-pickler of me I know! You can stop reading if you want, I understand. I’m probably not welcome in Brooklyn anymore… ). I subbed some sauté-steamed kale for the bulgogi and topped it all with the traditional egg. You can make this completely vegetarian or vegan and the recipe I’m sharing is of course gluten free.

Make-Shifty, Shape-Shifty Bibimbap:

Ingredients:

• 2 portions brown rice
• 1 bunch kale de-ribbed and chopped
• 3 cloves garlic smashed
• 1 cucumber sliced and then sliced in half
• 1 big carrot julienned
• 1 yellow onion, quartered and then quartered again (is there a name for that?)
• 4 scallions sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
• Sesame seeds
• Kimchi (from a jar or homemade)
• 4 Tbs canola oil
• 1 Tbs sesame oil
• 2 Tbs gluten free soy sauce
• 1.5 – 2 cups water

For the ‘gochujang’ sauce:

A lot of gochujang sauces have gluten and msg, so if you are planning on buying pre-made instead of making this – READ the ingredients!

• 4 Tbs sriracha sauce
• 2 Tbs gluten-free soy sauce
• 2 Tbs Rice vinegar
• 1 Tbs sesame oil
• 1-2 tsp sugar

Directions:

1. Make your sauce. This is very spicy, so if you don’t like spicy, just throw some soy sauce and a little sesame oil on your bibimbap. For those who like spicy, mix all your sauce ingredients together. Set aside.

2. Get your brown rice cooking. Timing is sort of everything in cooking, so if your brown rice takes 40 minutes to cook like mine does, I would start it when you start prepping your vegetables and sauce so that it’s done by the time you need to add it to your dish.

3. Heat 2 Tbs canola oil and 1 Tbs sesame oil in a large frying pan and sauté your garlic for a minute. Don’t let it brown as it will get bitter. Throw your kale in and pour in your soy sauce. I like to sauté the kale a bit with the garlic and then add my water. I start with a half cup of water and then add a little more. Cover the kale and let it steam until it is tender. Don’t overcook it. Keep it semi-bright green. Set aside.

4. While the kale is steaming, grab a small frying pan and heat 1 Tbs of oil. Add your onion and sauté until mostly translucent and tender.

5. Once the kale and onions are done, you can arrange all the ingredients, cucumber, carrot, kimchi, kale, onions, and brown rice in two big bowls (let the eater mix it all up, it’s pretty to present it like this). Sprinkle with scallions.

6.  In a small frying pan heat 1 Tbs of oil. Once oil is hot crack an egg into the pan. Cover the pan immediately. After about 30 seconds or so add a little water, maybe 3 Tbs. Cover again and let the egg steam. Watch it carefully, you want the white to be firm and the yolk runny as it acts as a binder and sauce for the dish.

7. Place the fried egg on top of the other ingredients and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with your sauce. Mix everything together and enjoy!

8. Have a dance party!

Bonus playlist for dinner tonight:

• Pressure Drop – Toots and the Maytals
• Rivers of Babylon – The Melodians
• It’s Alright – Bob Marley
• Burial – Peter Tosh
• Clean Up Woman – Betty Wright
• Strongest – Etana
• Police & Thieves – Junior Murvin
• Rock Fort Rock – The Skatalites
• Jah Is By My Side – Tony Rebel
• Funeral – Bob Marley & The Wailers

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