Healthy Vegetable Rice Bowl

Steps

1. Wash the short grain rice thoroughly until the water is very clear, then drain and set aside.
2. Soak the rice for at least 30 minutes (or up to an hour).
3. Prepare the vegetables: Remove hard stems from the kale. Slice the Korean radish into matchsticks. Wash the king oyster mushrooms quickly. Cut off the root ends of the soybean sprouts.
4. While the rice is soaking, prepare the seasoning sauce (Yangnyeom-jang): In a bowl, mix 1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 teaspoons gochugaru, 1 teaspoon sweetener or sugar, 1 chopped garlic clove, 3 chopped green onions, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, and sesame seeds.
5. Start cooking the rice in a pot with 1 1/2 cups of water. After 7 minutes, turn over the rice.
6. Add 1/4 cup of water to the edges of the pot. Turn down the heat to low and cook for another 7 minutes (or until done).
7. While the rice cooks, add the prepared vegetables (kale, radish matchsticks, mushrooms, soybean sprouts) directly into the cooking pot with the rice.
8. Once the rice is cooked, turn off the heat. Mix in a little more sesame oil and the Yangnyeom-jang sauce.
9. Serve the bowl topped with an egg or ground beef/pork if desired, and drizzle with gochujang.