Winter Delight

Vegetarian Bim Bim Bap

It was rather refreshing seeing a few inches of snow on the ground this morning. I find it funny that schools in the Triangle are closed.  But the black ice is readily available here, so I can see the caution of a late start and an opportunity to have a little fun with the kids sliding on the icy hill this morning.

The neighborhood color is flooded with brown and thirsty dust of winter. Unless watering the lawn in winter is your thing (which I find it against the grain with nature), you can find the color in your grass.  Otherwise to find a flavor that brightens up your visual and appetite is a daunting task, but not hopeless all together.  If you look hard enough, the local bitter greens such as kale, collard green, Swiss chard and mustard green will cheer you up. This is the best season to eat them.  They are hard for your taste buds to get used to but easy to find in winter...a little oasis in a desert literally (a shot of sunshine--vitamin A, in the midst of the cold).  I picked a couple pounds of kale and started cooking...desperate for a shiny transformation.

A warm bed of brown rice is topped with the arranged steamed vegetables, from julienned, steamed carrots, kale, sautéed mushroom and gingerly tofu.  The crown is a sunny side up egg with a spicy miso sauce.  You may have heard of it-- Bim Bim Bap, Korean clay pot of rice.

Curly Kale from a local market

What makes this dish so special is the Curly Kale.  The kale participates in such a volume of flavor, balancing the miso and cutting the richness of the runny egg.  And it is a vegetarian composition. Both my father and brother are vegetarian.  This dish hopefully will be another tasty option for them.  The dish also got a thumb up from our children.  They did use "Katch Chup, instead of the spicy miso sauce.  

I quickly steam the kale and mix it in rice vinegar, a pinch of salt, sugar, sesame seeds and its oil.  The white miso paste was tempered with fresh ginger, chili and mirin.  If you have Kim chi on hand, by all means, add it to the bowl.  

So, here is how I did it:

A bowl of steaming hot brown rice top with equal amount of:

Julienned steamed carrot

Sautéed mushrooms with oil, soy sauce and garlic

Pan-fried firm tofu (it was marinated in soy sauce, ginger, garlic, mirin)

Steamed kale salad

Miso sauce is made is white miso, grated fresh ginger, Thai chili powder, rice wine vinegar and a pinch of sugar.

Put them all together and have a winter green moment.

Cheers,

Teera