With a bit of twist—with what I could find in a tight budget and what I had at home.
Clothes are getting tighter, with the "one meal a day" it isn't really helping much haha... maybe for a person who hardly ate rice have been having daily Poké Bowl has gotten my body to overload with gluten free carbs suddenly.
While trying to stay healthier with my gut (with my home blend fruit greek yoghurt) on a tight budget, I'd probably have to diversify a little again with what goes to my stomach.
And I accidentally came across some influencer trying out a "Korean Celebrity Diet Dish", which is supposed to be Cucumber Tofu Bibimbap.
Because I still had some rice (with black beans and quinoa) with me I have decided to mix and match a little before going all out low carbs meal with dressings that should curb my desires to snack sweet stuffs.
Yeah, don't look at me. The moment the rice starch goes to my body, the sugar cravings returned at the same time.... with coconut spread too... oops 😅
I tried my best to find the closest match of the ingredients that I could find that serves similar intension to the dish—and one of them is the firm tofu. But because I bought the larger batch it felt a little "fermented" (the smell), though the due date is still long to go.
Because it came in a bulk for less than $1.50 USD, and I am going to try substitute rice with this, I might as well purchase in bulk, but I think it has been a while there and you can see on the lower left there's a lot of whey juice there.
However, nothing a wash with water could not fix
It will take out probably 80% of the "fermented" smell from these hard tofu.
With similar instructions I saw from the video, a 3 minute microwave of the tofu (instead of fry or steam) just to get the last bit of water is necessary to create this dry brittle texture that supposed to mimic rice.
White squeezing and crumbling the tofu, I also steamed some mixed frozen vegetables and my last bits of frozen rice and black beans with quinoa so that they do not feel that dry, place them nicely side by side just like any bibimbap / poké would display
While I couldn't find Gochugaru (Korean spice powder), I found this Gouchujang for half a price, which actually already has vinegar inside so I didn't have to add additional! That would have saved me a lot; and with proper storage in the fridge, this could last me white a while.
For me who hasn't been taking much spicy food of late because I needed to accommodate my seniors, a teaspoon of this dark red sauce is more than enough. I am definitely not targeting any "best spicy tolerant award" so a little heat should just be enough to keep me awake.
My office pantry still had this honey vinegar from the last Chinese New Year hamper received (and no one is using it) and this is perfect for adding the right amount of sweetness without too much sugar. I eye-balled around a tablepoon for that before eyeballing another teaspoon of soy sauce for that umami balance.
I woke up a little late and only managed to fry an egg in a rush, losing 80% of the saucy yolk but I think it is still great for that eggy feel. That's the only meat I have in here at the moment but the original recipe actually has sausages / minced meat to add on.
Since there's already quinoa and black bean + peas and tofu, that's ample protein packed in this one meal.
The verdict?
When everything is mixed properly together, just like any bibimbap, despite only little more of a tablespoon of sauce, it turned out great.
The hard tofu didn't taste weird at all even though it smelt a little fermented, and it still tastes refreshing.
Probably without the rice next round I might feel less "coma-tose" from the carbs... but let's see if I can keep this up tomorrow.
I had a 4 crackers with spread and Edam Cheese block (low sugar) around 2 hours later and right now I am still feeling full (after 6 hours). I guess my body still urge to have some snacking, and if I do, either yoghurt or a few more slices from the cheese block could fix it.
Let's see if it can last till way past sunset today.
What's the recipe?
Ingredients
- 1 square of firm tofu (unchanged)
- mixed frozen vegetables (replaced the diced cucumbers because I couldn't find any good ones)
- 1 teaspoon of vinegar gochujang (replacing gochugaru and rice vinegar)
- 1 cube Black bean quinoa rice portion (which is 1/2 of a bowl of plain rice), not needed if on a strict diet
- 1 tablespoon of honey vinegar (replacing any sweet sauce)
- approximately 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce (the original recipe requires 1 tablespoon)
- One fried egg (recipe preferred Sunny Side Up to have that creamy feeling)
How to eat
Mix all together evenly on a huge bowl and slowly enjoy it.
How about you?
Do you think you'd give this a try, with or without going on a diet?
I believe this is more of a lazy version of bibimbap as the original has a lot more condiments, but the simple, lean, morish version would have served well enough as a "diet" meal.
Until Then
Stay healthy, stay curious and learn new things, and stay happy!
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