Bibimbap...Quarantine Cooking

Cooking can become drudgery sometimes...these people actually expect to eat.every.day.  Add trying to stay out of the grocery store and cooking these days can be more challenging than usual.  

The upside of being ordered to stay home is that we have no commitments to plan around and so, some days, I put a little extra effort into my dinner preparations.  Today was bibimbap, a dish the girls and I had for the first time as part of a field trip when we did to go along with When My Name Was Keoko.  We were treated to a variety of Korean foods that day, which were all good, but bibimbap was our favorite.

I think bibimbap was created to use up bits of leftovers-but I always seem to have to start from scratch when I make it.

When we order it out, there's always pickled daikon in the bowl, which is a component we all really enjoy.  But, in this time of shop-at-home, I decided to pickle some regular radishes to stand in for the daikon.

This is how they looked a few minutes after pouring the pickling liquid over them. By dinner time they were no longer distinctly red and white; they looked bright pink throughout. 

Since it's been a while since I've pickled daikon, I had a hard time remembering the exact recipe I'd used before.  Allison helped me find it and Clarence suggested I blog the recipe so it'd be easier to find it next time.  I adapted this recipe.  Here is how I did it:

Pickled Radishes

1 1/4 pound radishes, cleaned, trimmed & thinly sliced

2 c. white vinegar

2 c. sugar

3/4 c. water

1 t. canning salt 

Bring vinegar, sugar, water, and salt to a boil.  Pour over sliced radishes in jar.  Cap and let cool to room temperature, then chill, preferably 24 hours before serving.

I had a little pickling liquid left over so I think I could use a couple pounds of radishes next time.  And I didn't plan ahead and make the pickles yesterday, so they only had a few hours to chill before dinner.

Still, we were happy with the flavor in our bibimbap tonight so I will likely be making these again as regular radishes are generally easier to find than daikon.