My first attempt at bibimbap, which used briefly marinated ground pork and was topped by a glorious egg, was sadly not photographed for posterity. That turned out to be an excellent excuse to revisit this wonderful dish.
For this do-over, I used thinly sliced beef top round in a hillbilly bulgogi marinade. Asian pears aren't exactly commonplace here, so I substituted a small granny smith apple. That said, kiwis (which are somewhat more likely to be around) have interesting meat tenderizing properties, so I have since determined that I would puree a few and freeze them in an ice cube tray for just this sort of occasion.
Unfortunately, the secret to keeping the calorie count in check is to use sesame oil and sesame seeds sparingly, even though your heart cries out for more. The vegetables will be more steamed than sauteed but still wonderful. Gochujang also packs a punch with its sugar content, but can be thinned with rice wine vinegar.
Don't be daunted by the sheer number of ingredients to prepare separately. Each only needs a few minutes in a nonstick skillet and make it well worth your while. ​
I plated my veggies and meat atop some shirataki "rice" but there is so much going on in this bowl that you might not miss the rice at all. Fun tip from the previous bibimbap: Don't discard seasoned vegetable sweat! Set the cooked vegetables with a higher water content (spinach, mushrooms) in a fine metal sieve to collect their juices add this back into some riced cauliflower. Cooking all the veggies sequentially in the same pan and using the juices of one to season another ties the whole dish together (in lieu of a generous amount of sesame oil playing this role, anyway).
