Bibimbap (rice with vegetables) - prepared

I don't often use prepared frozen foods, but they do come in handy once in a while. I'm trying to get a number of things done before my wife and daughter return from a 3-week trip to India this Friday and tonight had to focus on some items that had to be done by tomorrow. Conveniently, I found a frozen vegan bibimbap by a company called Saffron Road at Whole Foods a few days ago on sale. Why not try it out and if it's great, I could pick another up for a future meal?

Some years ago, I was lucky to have a very nice visiting family that I helped to host from Korea through the UNC International Friendship Program. They introduced me to their homemade delicious bibimbap; it is fun to pronounce and, more importantly, a healthful and tasty dish of rice with vegetables and pickles. I subsequently visited them in Seoul and enjoyed this national dish at home and in several city and village restaurants.

I should learn to make this highly customizable dish. Here are a few recipes that I found during a quick search online that perhaps I could use as a point of departure for my own attempts in the future:

• Omitting honey, sugar, and oil, and reducing vinegar, this recipe sounds easy and good
• With suitable changes, this recipe is a tempting look at how one could make a variety of ingredients and then have diners make their own bibimbap bowls
• crazykoreancooking.com offers a detailed description of ways of preparing bibimbap

 I should also probably visit some area Korean restaurants to try their vegan bibimbap.

Getting back to dinner, I was mildly disappointed. The vegetables in the main course were not so tasty. The tofu was good and there was a bit of hot spice that worked well. I need to make bibimbap from scratch! This serving didn't even remind me of the times that I had this Korean specialty in the past. Luckily, I also fire roasted an ear of corn and served it off-the-cob, and also served some excellent Sungold tomatoes.