After making the sweet chili chicken rice bowl I have been thinking about rice bowls a lot and I remembered another rice bowl that was on my to-try list, kongnamul bap, a Korean beansprout rice bowl. I really enjoy beansprouts but I do not seem to use them all that often and when I do the recipes often call for a small amount and the rest of the large bag goes to waste so I liked that this recipe call for a whole bag. Another thing that I like about this recipe is the interesting way that it is cooked in that the beansprouts and beef are placed on top of the rice and water in the pot that it is cooked in. Although you do not have to, I cooked the beef in a pan before adding it to the pot with the rice and I seasoned the beef with some soy sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil first.
Whenever I think about Korean cuisine I think about kimchi and it has to be one of my favourite foods so I could not resist sauteing some up along with the beef and then adding it to the pot with the rice. You may notice that the amount of water in this recipe is about half of what it normally is when cooking rice and that is because the beansprouts will release enough liquid to finish of the rice perfectly. The final component of this rice bowl is that it is topped with a tasty sauce that has salty aspects, sweet aspects and plenty of chilly heat along with the intoxifyingly aromatic sesame oil.
I had a feeling that this rice bowl was going to be good but I did not know just how good! It is just packed with some of my favourite flavours and every bite had me going back for another! This is definitely hearty enough to make a meal out of and an extremely satisfying one at that!
As with many rice bowls, a fried egg makes an amazing topping and a runny egg yolk is a must!
Mix everything up before eating to evenly distribute all of that flavour!
Kongnamul Bap (Korean Beansprout Rice Bowl)
A Korean bean sprout and beef rice bowl served topped with a fried egg and a tasty sauce.
ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup short grain rice (I like to use brown), rinsed
- 1 1/2 cup water
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon rice wine or mirin
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 1/2 cup ground beef or ground pork or sliced shiitake mushrooms
- 1/2 tablespoon oil
- 1/2 cup kimchi, coarsely chopped
- 1 pound soy bean sprouts, rinsed
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes)
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 green chili, sliced
- 2 green onions, sliced
- 2 eggs (optional)
directions
- Place the rice and water in a medium sauce pan and set aside.
- Mix the soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil and garlic into the beef.
- Heat the oil in a pan over medium-high heat, add the kimchi and saute for a minute or two.
- Add the beef and saute until cooked.
- Place the bean sprouts into the pot on top of the rice followed by the kimchi and beef.
- Bring the water to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered until the rice is cooked and the water is gone, about 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile mix the soy sauce, sesame oil, gochugaru, sesame seeds, garlic, sugar and green onion in a small bowl.
- Fry the egg sunny side up if having.
- Mix the rice, sprouts, kimchi and beef and serve topped with the fried eggs and sauce to taste.
Chung-Ah | Damn Delicious says
April 28, 2012 at 8:31 amKongnamul bap is one of my favorite dishes! And yes, a topped fried egg always makes everything better. Well done!
Joanne says
April 28, 2012 at 10:27 amEver since your last rice bowl, I have been craving one! I kind of want to dive into this one…so much flavor!
CharlesR says
April 28, 2012 at 2:49 pmMorning Kevin:
I'm not a real lover of bean sprouts, but cooked? That just may be my turning point.
I'm going to give it a try!
I thought you may like to check this out.
http://bsinthekitchen.com/baked-potato-grilled-cheese/
Have a joyful day
Charlie
Gina @ Skinnytaste says
April 29, 2012 at 2:07 amThis looks delicious as always Kevin, I'm excited to finally meet you next week at Dole!
Leslie says
April 29, 2012 at 2:37 amMade this for a late dinner tonight, didn't have kimchi so I improvised with some cabbage tossed with sugar, vinegar, and garlic chili paste and marinated for about 20 min, then just let it cook for longer in the pan, caramelizing before adding the ground pork. Turned out TOTALLY delicious, boyfriend begged me to save the recipe and make again and again. Thanks for sharing!!
raquel@eRecipe.com says
April 29, 2012 at 3:03 amI am a Korean rice bowl fan. I love the tender and tasty beef in it. Everything in it is awesome. Drooling, hungry and craving for it the moment I saw your pictures. =)
laura fox gill says
April 29, 2012 at 9:15 amThat egg looks so perfect! How is it not lunch time already…?
Anonymous says
April 29, 2012 at 12:40 pmI love mixed rice like this.
Paaka Shaale says
April 30, 2012 at 7:32 amThis rice bowl looks amazing!!! I would love to try the veggie version of it with mushrooms 🙂
grosir baju muslim says
April 30, 2012 at 2:33 pmthanks for that great info
Jay says
May 1, 2012 at 1:26 amthis looks like a fantastic dish..I am sure this is very delicious
Tasty Appetite
Kathryn Ferguson Griffin says
May 1, 2012 at 2:51 amI'm definitely going to try this! Looks delish! Thank you for sharing. Wishing you a grand evening. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse
nilanjana says
May 1, 2012 at 4:46 pmHii,
I love cooking, and always try to make something new in every weekend for my friends and family. And they really love to eat and enjoyed this thing a lot. From here i got to know so many new recipe,and this one with fried egg really good and give extra flavor.
keep posting!!
nilanjana says
May 1, 2012 at 4:48 pmHii,
I love cooking, and always try to make something new in every weekend for my friends and family. And they really love to eat and enjoyed this thing a lot. From here i got to know so many new recipe,and this one with fried egg really good and give extra flavor.
keep posting!!
Laura says
May 1, 2012 at 8:23 pmBeautiful post and blog!:) Would you like to follow each other?
Baltic Maid says
May 1, 2012 at 11:04 pmI have only made a few homemade Korean dishes yet but I have been wanting to try more… I'll give this one a try. It looks delicious!!!
plumbing says
May 2, 2012 at 12:22 pmLooks so delicious,I really love to eat beansprout specially if my granny is the one who cook it.This is her specialty and I always craving for it.
Kelly's Kitchen says
May 2, 2012 at 9:11 pmI absolutely love rice bowls and this reminds me of one that I used to eat in my college town! I will have to try this out ASAP. And I completely agree on the runny egg yolk bit 🙂
Angela says
May 2, 2012 at 9:56 pmI'm not sure if I have commented on your blog before Kevin, but I have been meaning to for a while now. Your creativity never ceases to amaze me! While I eat a vegan diet, I still find myself coming back to your blog again and again. Nice work!
Peter Hoe says
May 4, 2012 at 2:02 pmHi Kevin
A big hello from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Over here it's simply too easy to dash out and grab a quick meal anywhere & everywhere. Anytime. 24/7.
The BIG question is, is it nutritious ? Or challenging?
Entirely no.
I'm what you call a creative chef. Although chef is a BIG word, I mean it in a small way. That's not my profession, although I do own a small Cafe and create all the recipes for the menu. My mantra is " If you know what you want, you can create it". Right?
No buts. No if's. No nothing.
I salute you and your blog.
Cook one up for the world !
Anonymous says
May 15, 2012 at 1:32 amHi!! I made this tonight, but I have a couple of questions because the rice turned out kinda iffy hahah:
1. What size of a pan did you used, I know the recipe calls for a medium sauce pan, but with all those sprouts it was completely full. Is this the way it is supposed to be?
2. How do you know when the water is boiling? With all those ingredients i can't see the water or rice at all.
I'm sorry if these are stupid questions but the flavor was so good, but I'm positive that I cooked the rice wrong and your answers might make it work next time.
Thanks!!!
Kevin says
May 24, 2012 at 11:38 amAnonymous: My sauce pan is about 8 inches across and 4 inches deep and it was pretty full with all of the bean sprouts. I just pushed some of the beansprouts aside with a spoon to see when the water was boiling. I have to make this again soon!