Something to eat alongside your bibimbap. Or, if you’re me, maybe something to throw right into your bibimbap. I did that for a long time. The Korean place I used to frequent for lunch served bibimbaps with a little dish of kongjang and a little dish of kimchi on the side. Both were right next to the little dish containing bibimbap sauce, which I knew went right into the bibimbap, so I assumed everything was meant to go right into the bibimbap. I also thought these were peanuts. One day they switched things up and gave me a dish of pickled veggies instead of kongjang. As you can imagine, the server was a little confused when I asked what happened to those delicious saucey peanuts that went into the bibimbap. I know better now, but I still like to throw the soybeans right in with by bibimbap sometimes. I’m very attached to these little suckers. I generally keep dried soybeans on hand for making soymilk, so when I decided to try homemade bibimbaps a few weeks ago, I figured why not give kongjang a shot while I was at it? I’m glad I did.
