Eggplant Bibimbap

Occasionally, I’ll be riffing and raffing in the kitchen, digging around the fridge to see what vegetables and protein I have to eat before it goes bad, and I create the perfect bowl that checks all of the boxes: savory and a little sweet, spicy and herbaceous, crunchy and silky, light and satisfying.

This eggplant bibimbap is all of this and more. It’s a full plate of beautiful fresh vegetables and juicy ground pork seasoned with a little sugar and funky fish sauce, making the most mouth watering base for the silkiest eggplant. And the best part about the graffiti eggplant variety (or the thin and long Asian eggplant varieties), is that they’re naturally sweeter, more tender, and have fewer bitter seeds so they’re super low maintenance and easy to work with.

I’ve already made this recipe twice since I first created it in my kitchen last weekend for lunch, it’s that good.

Eggplant Bibimbap (2 servings)

Ingredients

For the meat:

• 16 oz of ground pork (beef or even crumbled tofu would be great)
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 TBSP soy sauce
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp sugar

For the eggplant sauce:

• 2 TBSP soy sauce
• 2 tsp fish sauce
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp sugar
• Pinch of gochugaru and sesame seeds
• Greens of 2 scallions, sliced

For the bibimbap:

• 3 medium graffiti eggplant (or Asian eggplant)
• 2-3 cup of any fresh sliced vegetables; I used purple cabbage, bell pepper, and cherry tomatoes
• 2 servings of rice
• 2-3 sprigs of basil
• 1 jalapeño, sliced (optional)

Step 1. Brown the meat in a medium sized pan. Add onion and garlic and all seasonings. When meat is cooked through and the onions are translucent, turn off heat and set aside.

Step 2. Combine all eggplant sauce ingredients into a bowl and mix until the sugar dissolves. Taste to adjust and set aside.

Step 3. Heat large pan on medium high and drizzle generously with olive oil. Meanwhile, remove the top of the eggplant and slice in half lengthwise. Make shallow, diagonal cuts on the flesh of the eggplant, then repeat in the opposite direction to make a crisscross design. Season with a pinch of salt and cook cut side down for 4-5 minutes until the skin of the eggplant starts to brown around the edges, drizzling more olive oil as it cooks. Flip the eggplant, turn off the heat, and cover with a lid. Set aside. The residual heat from the pan plus the lid will finish cooking the eggplant.

Step 3. Plate rice. Top with ground meat, vegetables, and eggplant, spooning sauce over the halved eggplant pieces. Top with basil and jalapeno. Enjoy!