What I Ate: Dolsot Bibimbap

One of my favorite dishes to order at Korean restaurants is the hot pot bibimbap, mainly because we didn't really have a way of making it at home. Well, we did, I just wasn't motivated enough to do it. But, since over the past year, we've had v. little occasion to leave the house and I had a craving, I found myself with the ambition to make dolsot bibimbap at home.

Frankly, it's an awesome way to jazz up a potentially blah meal. You can make this with whatever leftover vegetables in the fridge to clear it out and yet the end result feels like a special meal.

For this version, I threw in julienned carrots, thinly sliced cucumber, some leftover radish kimchi, leftover brisket, chopped up some limp bok choy, and of course, a fried egg on top is compulsory.

The best part is letting the rice continue to sizzle in the pot for a few minutes even after it's been served at the table. The goal is to allow the rice that's in direct contact with the pot to crisp up and form a crunchy sesame oil-soaked cracker.

There's even a strategy to how to ideally mix dolsot. I like to gently scrape up the rice so that there's still a layer in contact with the pot that will be left undisturbed until I'm almost at the end of the meal.

xoxo.