I mean, I’d happily eat this lot steamed with a bit of soy sauce, but the family aren’t quite so easily pleased, so I needed to turn this bunch of raw veg into an appealing bowl of deliciousness with a couple of added enticements.

I thought I’d use the traditional Korean meal Bibimbap as my inspiration. In Korea, the rice and vegetables are brought out to the table in a stone bowl, and the raw egg is cracked over the top. The diner then adds a good dollop of spicy chilli sauce and mixes it all together while it’s still sizzling. I don’t have stone bowls, and I don’t do even remotely raw egg, so here is my take on Bibimbap:

2 cups Japanese sushi rice

3-4 cups vegetables. I used a sliced onion, sliced mushrooms, sliced radish, shredded cabbage, julienne carrot and broccoli. Beans, courgette and tomato would also be good.

4 free range eggs

Handful toasted sesame seeds

Handful chopped coriander leaves

1/4 cup sweet chilli sauce

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1 -2 teaspoons tabasco or similar hot chilli sauce to taste

 

Make the sauce by mixing the chilli sauces and vinegar together in a small bowl.

Cook the rice in a rice cooker or following packet instructions and keep warm.

Get a wok and a frying pan or skillet heating up; you want to cook each vegetable separately but quickly. Stir fry the vegetables and when ready, put a scoop of rice in each bowl and arrange the vegetables on the top.

Fry the eggs and top each bowl with one egg, a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds and a sprinkle of coriander.

Serve with the chilli sauce to be stirred through according to taste.

Sexy vegetables!

So here’s tonight’s vege-heavy dinner: vegetable fritters, cumin coated kumara wedges, mushrooms, spinach, raw cashew aoili and coriander pesto. The fritters are a great way to use up whatever vegetables are lying around and need using up; tonight’s numbers had carrot, corn, chilli, spring onion, silverbeet and pureed pumpkin, with a little bit of feta to sweeten the deal.