Vegan Bibimbap (With Vegan Egg Yolk)

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This bibimbap recipe is vegan and gluten-free. Put on your safety goggles and head bras cause we are getting scientific on this one. Nope, we are not trying to make a man but the renowned vegan egg yolk. It was made popular by a vegan restaurant out in California called Crossroads Kitchen. Their recipe was top secret but it’s a simple method of spherification and I’ll be attempting it in this recipe.

One of my favorite Korean dishes is bibimbap. I used to make this with ground beef and my favorite mix of vegetables. I’ve refreshed it with my vegan version using a mix of tofu and jackfruit to replace the meat. My favorite vegetables to eat this with are spinach, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, zucchini, purple cabbage, and bean sprouts. Each vegetable is cooked individually to give it that bibimbap presentation. Though I’ve thrown all these vegetables together in one pan before to make it super fast. You still get all the lovely flavors and well it just saves so much time. But I’ll keep it authentic for this recipe.

One of the important elements of the dish is the sauce that uses gochujang paste. Though the traditional paste uses some odd preservatives and I’m happy I found a cleaner version by this brand. It uses all simple ingredients that are gluten-free, organic, no cane sugar, and vegan. So happy when I can find companies that use more wholesome ingredients.

Another part of the bibimbap is the sunny-side-up egg. It’s been so long since I’ve had an egg. Breaking the yolk is such a part of this dish. So I was determined to figure a way to make a vegan version of it. I was quite excited about this. I remember watching an episode of Zambo’s Just Dessert’s and a contestant used spherification. It’s a form of molecular gastronomy that I’ve always been interested in since it takes food to a scientific level and opens the door for more creative ideas.

I found a method that uses orange tomatoes and uses spherification to create that yolk-like texture. The black salt gives it that egg-like taste from its sulfuric compounds. The tomato is a much bolder flavor than regular egg yolk, though it still goes well with this dish. This part is totally optional, you can do this if you’re throwing a dinner party and would like to impress your friends. I recommend setting this up a day ahead cause there’s a lot of time required for this. Also using the sphere mold really helps get that egg-like shape. Or you can use it as a sauce and skip the spherification process to save time.

What Makes This Vegan Bibimbap Healthier

• I’ll be using jack fruit and tofu to replace the meat. The jack fruit has a bit of a tangy flavor that adds a bit of sweet and saltiness to this dish.
• I’m using a gochjang sauce by this brand. They use cleaner ingredients with no preservatives.
• Making the egg yolk out of tomatoes, which are naturally high in vitamin c and lycopene.
• This dish is jam-packed with a colorful variety of vegetables like carrots, purple cabbage, spinach, shiitake mushrooms, zucchini, and bean sprouts. It’s like eating the rainbow.

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How-To Video

I had to use this song for this one cause I swear I can hear the robotic voice saying bibimbap. Can anyone else hear that?!

Let’s Make This Vegan Bibimbap

What You’ll Need

Vegan Egg Yolk

• 3 cups distilled water
• 5 tsp sodium alginate
• 2 large orange tomatoes or 3 cups of orange cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder
• 1 tsp black salt
• 8 g calcium lactate (this will depend on the weight of your final tomato blend) See notes
• Egg mold

Bibimbap

• 4-5 packed cups spinach
• 3 cups purple cabbage, shredded
• 3-4 carrots, cut into match sticks
• 1 large zucchini, cut into match sticks
• 4 oz shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2-3 scallions, thinly sliced
• 12- 16 oz bean sprouts can also use a can
• 14 oz organic firm tofu, one package
• 2 cans jackfruit
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp tamari sauce
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tsp date sugar
• 6-8 cups cooked rice

Bibimbap Sauce

• 2 tbsp gochujang
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tbsp date sugar
• 1 tsp Rice Vinegar
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds

Vegan Egg Yolk (optional)

• I highly recommend preparing this ahead of time, like one day before.
• Place distilled water in blender. Add the sodium alginate and blend well for about 1 minute or until its well blended and mixture thickens. You should get a gel like consistancy
• Place this is an air tight container and let sit in the fridge overnight to remove air bubbles

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Place orange tomatoes in an oven safe baking dish. Pour olive oil on top and coat each tomato.
• Place in oven for 30 minutes. Flip tomatoes to the other side and cook for another 15 minutes. Tomatoes should be nice and soft.
• Add roasted tomatoes to a high speed blender. Add the mustard, black pepper and olive oil. Blend well about 1 – 2 minutes.

• Pour mixture through strainer and weigh your final mixture. This will depend on how much calcium lacatate you need to add. For every 200g of mixture you’ll need 6g of calcium lacate. My mixtue was around 250 so I added about 8 g of calcium lacate.
• Add calcium lacate to your tomato mixture and mix well. Let it sit in the fridge for 2 – 3 hours to remove air bubbles.
• Add the mixture to silicone yolk shape molds and freeze for 30 minutes.

Bibimbap

• While tomato is freezing you can prepare the bibimbap.
• Cut the carrots and zuchinni into thin match sticks. Thinly chop the red cabbage.

• Heat a large saute pan over medium heat and add olive oil. Place carrots and add salt, pepper, and 1 tbsp of sesame oil. Cook for about 3-5 minutes or until carrots are cooked. Set aside.

• Contunue to cook the next vegetables separetly. Add the olive oil and add the purple cabbage. Season with salt, pepper and sesame oil. Cook for about 3 – 5 munites or until cooked. Set aside
• Add olive oil if needed on the pan and add the zuchinni. Season with salt, pepper and sesame oil. Cook for about 3 – 5 munites or until cooked. Set aside

• Add olive oil if needed on the pan and add the spinach. Season with salt, pepper, water and sesame oil. Cook for about 3 – 5 munites or until cooked. Set aside
• Add olive oil if needed on the pan and add the shiitake mushrooms. Season with salt, pepper and sesame oil. Cook for about 3 – 5 munites or until cooked. Set aside

• Add olive oil if needed on the pan and add the scallions and garlic. Add the beans sprouts and season with salt, pepper, sesesame oil, and sesame seeds. Cook for about 2 – 3 munites or until cooked. Set aside
• Cut tofu into rectangular pieces and place into air fryer basket and bake at 400 degrees F for about 10 – 15 minutes or until becomes golden and crisps on the edges. If you don’t have an air fryer you can also cook in a saute pan and fry each side over the stove. Cook each side for about 2 -3 minutes or until sides are crispy. Set this aside.

• Add olive oil and heat on medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes till golden in color. Add the jack fruit and tofu. Add the sesame oil, tamari sauce, date sugar, and sesame seeds and mix all the ingredients well. Cook for 3-5 minutes and set aside.

Bibimbap Sauce

• In a small bowl combine add the gochujang, garlic, date sugar, sesame oil, rice vinegar, water, and sesame seeds and mix well. Set aside.

Vegan Egg

• Now to prepare to create the vegan yolk you’ll need the sodium alginate mixture that you prepared before, slotted sppons, two bowls full of luke warm water, and a small bowl to store the finished egg.
• Add the frozen tomato yolk to the sodium alginate mixture. Make sure to submerge and coat it well. Let is sit for about a minute in the mixture. Use a slotted spoon to scoop out the vegan yolk and remove access alginate.
• Add the yolk to the water bath and continue to remove the access alginate. Place it in the other bowl of water to continue to remove access alginate. Once all removed place in a small bowl. Continue steps for the rest of the yolks.

Assemble

• This is optional but to get authentic bibimbap we have to crisp the bottom of the rice. Place cooked rice in a lightly greased cast iron skillet and heat over medium heat. Let sit unmoved for about 3 – 5 minutes until you see the bottom of the rice golden and crisp up. Place rice in a large bowl.
• Now asseble the bowl with the crisped up rice. Add all the vegables and tofu and jackfruit.

• Place the vegan egg yolk in the center. Spinkle with bibimbap sauce and serve immediately and enjoy!

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