Raw fish with rice and vegetables

Hoedeopbap is one of my all-time favorite dishes, so I’m happy to show you how to make it. It’s made with raw fish, rice, and a spicy seasoning sauce – it’s cool and soft and melting in your mouth, and fresh and spicy.

The key to this dish is to make sure the fish is served cold cold.

You might have guessed already that I love fish, and especially raw fish. So when I went to Mexico and stayed at the beach, I could meet the fishermen as they brought their catch in, early in the morning. No middleman, I could buy the fish as fresh as possible.

When I got the freshest fish in my hand, hoedeopbap was a good choice. It’s refreshing and easy to eat: you mix it all together in a big bowl, like a raw fish bibimbap. Unlike bibimbap, the vegetables are uncooked, so it’s a lot simpler to prepare.

Hoedeopbap with a bowl of doenjangguk (soybean paste soup) simply can’t be beat. You can make a quick vegetarian version of this by substituting the fish with fried tofu.  Also, if you like mint or perilla leaves, add them to the dish.

This is another video that I remade as the original was done in 2008. One of the reasons I’m redoing these older recipes is because they are blocked in some countries due to music copyright laws. In those days, I just used whatever music I liked in my videos, which is causing some problems now. Nowadays I create all my own music.

So for some people, this is their first chance to watch my hoedeopbap video!

Ingredients: Serves 2-3

• ½ pound of fresh sashimi grade fish: sail fish, tuna, salmon, snapper, or flounder
• 2 tablespoons roasted sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons roasted sesame seeds
• 1 sheet of kim (seaweed paper), roasted, and cut into thin strips, keep in a plastic bag
• 2-3 bowls of freshly made cooked rice

Vegetables:

• 2 cups worth lettuce, sliced thinly
• 1 cup worth cucumber, sliced thinly
• ¼ cup worth carrot, cut into thin matchsticks
• 2 or 3 tablespoons onion, sliced thinly
• 1 small tomato, sliced thinly
• 1 or 2 red chili peppers, chopped
  

Seasoning sauce (Yangnyeomchojang):

• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons hot pepper paste
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1 green chili pepper, chopped
• 2 tablespoons of white vinegar (or juice from crushed limes)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 teaspoons sugar

Directions

1. Shave the fish thinly. Keep in the refrigerator.
   
2. Combine the soy sauce, hot pepper paste, green onion, garlic, green chili pepper, sugar, and vinegar or limes in a bowl with a spoon. Keep in the refrigerator.
   

Arrange hoedeopbap:

1. Put lettuce on the bottom of a plate or large shallow bowl. Add the cucumber, onion, carrot, and tomato and arrange them nicely.
2. Place the rice in the center of the vegetables.
   
3. Add the fish, shredded gim, and red chili pepper on top.
4. Sprinkle with roasted sesame seeds and drizzle the sesame oil.
   

Serve:

1. Serve with doenjangguk.
2. Add the seasoning sauce over top of the fish, and gently mix all the ingredients together with your spoon.

How to prepare the tofu for a vegetarian version:

1. Heat up a pan and add a little vegetable oil.
2. Dice tofu into 1.5 cm cubes. Put them into the pan and cook until golden brown.
3. Turn off the heat and add 1 ts of soy sauce and 1 ts of sugar. Stir until the tofu is coated.

Quick Tofu Doenjangguk recipe:

1. Put 5 cups of water and 8-10 dried anchovies (with the heads and guts removed) in a pot and boil for 20 minutes over medium high heat.
2. Remove the anchovies from the pot and add 1½ tbs doenjang (soybean paste). Lower the heat and simmer for 10 more minutes.
3. Dice 1 cup of tofu into small cubes and add them to the pot. Boil 2 to 3 minutes, then turn the heat off.
4. Chop up 1 green onion. Sprinkle some over each bowl of soup just before you serve them.