Rescue Yesterday’s Takeout

Feeling heartbroken? All you need is a rice cooker and a fridge full of leftovers and you’ve got Breakup Bibimbap. Deuki Hong takes us into the world of k-dramas with a genius bibimbap recipe and two condiments to stow away for your next ex.

For the Soy Yum Yum Dressing

1 cup Soy sauce
½ cup Dried mushroom water (soak dried shiitakes for a few hours)
½ cup Sake
½ cup Corn syrup
1 4x4” Dashima sheet (also called kombu)
Any and all scraps you may have laying around, e.g.:
Apple peel
Carrots
Onion peels
Scallion Scraps
Lemons

• Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and let it come to a simmer for 10 minutes. The more interesting scraps, the more interesting the flavor!
• Let cool and reserve in the fridge for as a mixed rice condiment.

Side Tips:

• If your life is so sad that you don’t even have ANY leftovers in the fridge… in a bowl of warm rice, add a tablespoon of butter (or better yet MARGARINE or another fake butter, that nonsense is perfect for this) and pour some of this soy yum yum dressing on top and enjoy. Super simple and nothing evokes my childhood like soy butter rice like this nostalgic classic. It’s all about keeping that condiment in the fridge for that rainy day!
• You can use the soy yum yum to cook with for a quick stir fry. Great stir fry condiment. Leftover bell peppers? Tofu? Edamame? Toss it in a hot pan with this sauce. Let it simmer and sauce seep in. Call it a day.

For the

Spicy Cure-All Gochujang Sauce

¼ cup Canola oil

½ bunch Scallions, thinly sliced

½ cup Gochujang (South Korean chili flakes)

¼ cup Pork belly or bacon, minced or thinly sliced

1 tbsp. Sugar

1 tsp. Garlic, minced

¼ cup Soy sauce

2 tsp. Vinegar of your choice 1 tsp. Corn syrup

• In a medium saucepan, heat up oil and scallions, until scallions are slightly fried.
• Add bacon/pork belly and cook on medium heat, until fat is rendered.
• Add rest of the ingredients, and cook on low simmer for 5-10 minutes.
• Take off heat and reserve in the fridge. Gets better with time. Use as condiment when you have leftover warm rice and a fridge you’d like to empty out!

For the Breakup Bibimbap

Carrots, onions, or other veggies

Lettuce, salad greens

Mushrooms

Kimchi

Avocado

Nori, toasted seaweed

Canned tuna

Tobiko (fish roe)

Canned ham

Roommate’s leftovers

Kitchen sink (you get the idea)

• Warm leftover rice.

• Gochujang or Yum Yum sauce.

• Eggs, fried over easy. Yolk broke? Start again.

• Good quality sesame or perilla oil.

• Eat, cry, live, laugh, love.

  Created with GEICO.