the most tasteless bibimbap I’ve ever had – part2

So I wrote about my experience with the blandest bibimbap I’ve ever had. (see the picture of the bibimbap by clicking here.) I’ve read the comments, and I’m sure gochujang/gojoojang would’ve probably given it a bit of flavor, BUT my friend and I agreed that even if we added gochujang/gojoojang, it would’ve probably been absorbed into the bowl of …”stuff.” It was that flavorless! (By the way, this was not my first bibimbap experience, and I’m Asian, so I don’t think they didn’t give it to me because they thought I couldn’t handle the spicy food.)

You can see the carrots, meat, other veggies in the picture, but they just had no texture OR taste! I realized that “no texture” was part of the bland taste. I remembered that once I started mixing it, the veggie & rice lost its shape, and the meat disappeared. I was talking to my friend and we came to the conclusion that it was as if they boiled all the ingredients in water for a very long time, got all the juice and flavor out, and used the water for some soup, and used the veggie for the bibimbap.

I’m not trying to say the all bibimbap is bland, but you really had to try this one to understand what I mean by “tasteless.” (But of course, I won’t give you the name for this place.)

Anyway, this is bibimbap make-over day 2. I decided to make an “omurice” with leftover bibimbap. Omurice is a very popular meal for kids in Japan, and it’s basically fried rice (usually seasoned with ketchup) inside an omelet.

The bibimbap rice was still a bit mushy and had no texture, so I cooked sliced onion in a frying pan. When the onion turned clear, I added the bibimbap, seasoned it with salt and pepper and a bit of ketchup, and I removed the rice from the pan. Then I beat 3 eggs, poured it on the pan. After cooking the egg for a couple of minutes, I put the bibimbap rice on one side of the egg, and flipped the other side of the egg onto the rice. I put worcester sauce and mayonnaise on the top of the omelet, and sprinkled powdered seaweed on top.

The omelet looked lonely all by itself, so I sauteed chopped garlic and asparagus and put some lemon juice, and sprinkled parmesan cheese on top for the side for the omelet. (I cooked more veggie too, but I only took a picture of the omelet)

I think the texture of onion made a big difference. It was quite delicious. 😀

I still have a small bowl of bibimbap left. Not enough for a dish, but I might make rice crackers with it. 🙂