Korean Food 101, Kimbap

Perfect for a snack or light meal, gimbap can be filled with any combination of vegetables, meat, tofu, and eggs! Gimbap satisfies in many settings: as a light lunch for both adults and kids, as an easy-to-carry picnic and hiking snack, or even as a party appetizer. Learn the basics of these Korean-style seaweed and rice rolls and you'll be able to fill them with endless combinations of vegetables, meat, tofu, and eggs. They're even a great way to use up leftovers! Some might think of gimbap or kimbap (pronounced "keem-bahp") simply as Korean sushi, but it really stands on its own. Wrapped inside layers of roasted seaweed (gim) and steamed rice (bap), the versatile fillings are often cooked and individually seasoned. While sushi rice is always vinegared, the rice for gimbap may be plain or seasoned with any combination of rice vinegar, sesame oil, sesame seeds, sugar, and salt. (The recipe below is based on my mother-in-law's method.) Finally, unlike sushi, gimbap is usually eaten without any soy sauce, wasabi, or ginger. This makes it a perfect finger food whether you're at home or on the go. By Merry.

Ingredients

Instructions

• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook time: 1 hour
• 1. Wash and cook rice as directed on the package in your rice cooker. You want to use freshly made rice for this. Once cooked and cooled to room temp, add 2 tsp sesame oil and 1 tbsp sesame seeds and fluff up the rice with a paddle. Don't mush or overwork it though.
• 2. Peel and julienne carrots and cucumber (if using that instead of the burdock root. but don't peel the cucumber!). Cut your ham into thin long strips
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• 3. Bring to boil about 2-3 cups of water in a saucepan. Add a pinch of salt (this makes spinach greener when blanching). Blanch the spinach for about 1 min, rinse with cold water and squeeze out all the water. Season with a pinch of salt and 1-2 tsp of sesame oil
• 4. Heat about 1 tbsp mix of olive oil and sesame oil. Fry your julienned carrots for about 1 min, salt to taste, set aside. Next fry up the ham just to heat through.
• 5. Beat the eggs with a pinch of salt, and pour onto an oiled non stick frying pan on low-med heat. Let it cook until it looks partially done on one side and flip to cook the other side. Cut into 1/4" strips
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• 6. Assembly :On a sheet of seaweed placed on a sushi mat, add a thin layer of rice and leave about 1 cm at the top. Line up each prepared ingredients in the middle (look at the picture above). Roll the kimbap to tuck in all the filling (away from you) and quickly roll it to let the rice stick on the seaweed. Using the sushi mat, knead lightly and roll a little to keep the kimbap in place. Repeat until out of ingredients.
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• 7. To serve, oil your hands with sesame oil and run along the roll of kimbap. Cut to 1/2" with a sharp knife. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top for garnish
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