Gaji Bap - Eggplant Rice

Creamy eggplant mixed into seasoned rice and topped with a spicy addictive sauce.

Gaji Bap - Eggplant Rice

Serves 4

Initially, eggplant rice doesn’t sound like much but, this is absolutely delicious and will become a new favorite. The combination of butter, soy and pork with the creamy eggplant make the rice rich and flavorful while the yangnyeom sauce on the side makes eating the already flavorful rice a completely different experience. This particular recipe is a modification of the original by Korean chef Baek Jong Won, popular a few years ago in Korea. I like to serve Gaji Bap with buchu salad (recipe here) or buchu kimchi and either jjangachi (Korean soy-based pickle) or pickled red onions.

“Recipe Tips:

1. Ideally, this dish is cooked in a rice cooker. If you prefer to cook the dish on the stove, increase the amount of water by 0.25 c in Step 1.

2. I personally double the sauce amount because it is so yummy and toss the leftover sauce with sliced cucumbers to make a quick banchan.

3. I add all of the optional ingredients as I like the flavor they add, however, you can pick and choose to suit your preference.

4. To make this dish vegan, replace the butter with vegan butter or oil, omit the ground meat and add 1 additional chopped eggplant and 5 chopped fresh shiitake mushrooms.”

Ingredients

Rice

640g (3 c) short or medium grain rice

500ml (2.50 c) water

5g (2 - 2 in square) dashima - optional

Meat

230g (0.50 lb) ground meat (pork, chicken, beef)

1.5 t mirin

0.75 t fish sauce

Yangnyeom seasoning sauce

3g (0.50 t) ginger, grated

2 scallions, thinly sliced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 cheongyang or serrano chili, thinly sliced - optional

0.25 non spicy red chili, thinly sliced - optional

4 T soy sauce

1 T sesame oil

1 T gochagaru

4 t mirin

2 t honey

2 t sesame seeds

0.25 t ground black pepper

Pinch of salt

Finishing

14g (1 T) butter

2 t sesame oil

65g (5) scallions, sliced

6 garlic cloves, minced

0.50 t kosher salt

0.50 t ground black pepper

454g (3 medium) Japanese eggplant, sliced into 1cm (0.25 in) half moons

4 T soy sauce

Recipe Know-how

1.      Wash the rice.

• Add rice, water and dashima into the bowl of a rice cooker.

Stovetop cooking directions: Place the rice, water and dashima in a large pot instead of the bowl of a rice cooker. Continue on as listed in the recipe.

• Allow the rice to soak for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, turn the dashima so it is sticking out of the rice vertically.

Leaving the dashima squares horizontal in the dish will prevent proper cooking of the final product and may cause some of the rice to not cook properly.

Continue on to Step 3

2.      In a medium mixing bowl, combine the ground meat with the mirin and fish sauce.

• Allow to marinate until right before needed.

Continue on to Step 3 while the meat marinates.

5 minutes before the soaking of the rice is completed, begin Step 4.

3.      In a small mixing bowl, combine all sauce ingredients. Set aside.

4.      In a large saute pan over medium-high, melt the butter with the sesame oil.

• Add the scallions and garlic. Saute for 45 seconds.

• Add the ground meat, salt and pepper. Cook for 2 – 3 minutes or until the meat is no longer pink.

• Add the eggplant and soy sauce. Cook until eggplant is beginning to soften 3 - 4 minutes.

• Pour the eggplant mixture and all of the accumulated liquid on top of the rice.

• Place in rice cooker and cook on the brown rice or mixed rice setting until it alerts you that it is finished cooking.

Stovetop cooking directions: Bring the rice to a boil. Cook for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 13 - 16 minutes. Test the rice for doneness after 13 minutes. Continue to cook longer if needed. If there is not enough liquid for a longer cooking period, add an additional 2 T of water and continue to cook until done. Allow rice to stand with the flame off for 3 minutes before continuing on.

• Using a rice spatula or rubber spatula, gently move the eggplant and pork to the side of the pot to find the dashima. Remove and discard the dashima.

• Gently combine the cooked eggplant and meat into the rice using the side of the rice spatula or rubber spatula to gently turn them together.

5.      Serve with the sauce on the side for individuals to top with as much as they like.