Two questions on Korean food

A peek of last night's dinner :-)

So in the end I made a DELICIOUS bibimbap with Jasmine rice, It was soft and sticky enough to mimic (I guess Calrose rice) .

Pierino, I now understand how you would prefer the gorgeousness of a poached egg. I went with fried and it was lovely, if a bit overcooked, so not enough runny yellow but stunning it was. The kids LOVED it!!!!

I have another trial in the works.

Catalinalacruz - will keep these eyes out for sprouted brown rice.

Cheers

We spent 5 weeks in S. Korea, and I have to say that all the rice we ate looked just like normal short grain white rice, and tasted no differently than the white rice I am used to in the U.S. For making bibimbap at home, I prefer sprouted brown rice, now available at Costco. For me, it's OK to make substitutions if the essence of the dish remains the same, and it is more nutritious. Most likely, Koreans originally ate brown rice until they learned how to refine it to remove the outer coating.

KitchenButterfly, arborio is really not a good choice for Korean. A Calrose type will work, which shouldn't be too hard to find. Here's my own recipe for bibimbap http://food52.com/recipes/18661-return-to-korea-town-bibim-pap-the-mystery-continues I prefer to use a poached egg as versus a fried egg (more traditional)because too often in a restaurant setting the egg is over cooked. The yolk needs to be runny.
I'm a huge fan of Chang of course, as well as Roy Choi. Recently I had a really disappointing meal at a restaurant in Orange County (CA)called Urban Seoul. Hip name, weak imitation of what Roy Choi does. For bibimbap you have get the rice right and the egg right. That's the trick.

Thanks a lot Rebecca, for both links - extremely useful. When I searched Han Kuk Mi, short grain rice popped up in the text so I think I'll go with some arborio rice I have. I might stick some spring onions or lemon grass in it while cooking to make it fragrant, a la Thai Jasmine but we'll see.

Thanks a lot

Hi Kitchen Butterfly-- Seems like there are several types of rice used in Korean cuisine; search "Han Kuk Mi" for some examples one brand offers (I've never used them, so no recommendation).

Also, this article is amazingly detailed about regional cuisines in Korea! I think you may find some answers within it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_regional_cuisine

Always use a short grain rice for Korean cooking.

I don't think they actually have restaurants in N. Korea unless you are related to Kim "I wanna go to Disneyland" Jong Un. Selected by the Onion as the "Sexiest Man in the World".
Practically everything you will taste outside of Korea is S. Korean. You will know because somewhere there will be Christian music playing in the background. The banshan is wonderful for group or family dining. Could I just repeat that I love Korean food and all of my Korean friends.