김밥 Recipe

So, many people asked me for recipes from Korea.  Unfortunately, Koreans don't seem to be too into cooking.  Letting things go bad (excuse me... ferment)? Sure.  Cook/bake?  Not so much.  That being said, I've discovered the Korean answer to sushi (although you should never make that comparison here.  My teacher wouldn't even acknowledge a correlation): 김밥 (Gimbap), which literally means "seaweed-rice). Anyway, if you're confused, click on the title of this post (that blog does a great job explaining it, so I don't feel the need to).

Most of this recipe is preparation, which I would estimate about an hour for.  My suggestion?  Make these suckers in bulk... they're great for sharing with a group.  Of course, if you keep a decent stock of prepared ingredients, then you can just make yourself a roll here and there when you're hungry.

Things you're going to need:
-Aluminum Foil
-김 (It comes in packages that look like this and looks like this when unwrapped.)
-White rice (and cooker)
-Sesame seed oil (although I imagine any kind of cooking oil will do)
-Salt
-Pickled radish (a staple in Korean cuisine)
-Every Korean will put in some ham/SPAM strips, but I leave them out.  It still tastes fine.
-Imitation Krab meat
-Eggs
-Cheese (I'd recommend cheddar or Monterrey jack... Koreans will use what they call cheddar, which is really just sliced American cheese.)
-Sesame leaves
-Canned Tuna
-Mayo
-(pepper... I prefer red pepper powder)
-Kimchi
-Spinach
-Or really... anything else your heart desires.

Preperation:

1. Wash the rice 3 times (fill bowl of rice with water, swish it around with your hands until the water looks like milk, drain the water, repeat).  I don't know why, but just do it.  The water looks pretty gross as you do it, so I'd say it's rather important.
2. Get the rice cooking.
3. Cut the ham and Krab into long, cubed strips.
4. Fry the ham.
5. Cook the eggs into thin omelets, and cut them into strips when they are done.
6. Wilt the spinach.  Combine it with sesame oil (until it looks slightly slimy and a bit gross).  Salt to taste.  (I actually like this a lot.
7. Cut the cheese into thinner strips.
8. Mix tuna, mayo, salt, and pepper to make a BASIC tuna salad (no extras).
9. Rip the stems from the sesame leaves.
10. When the rice is done cooking, separate some out into a bowl, add just enough oil to make it sticky.  Salt to taste.

Procedure:
1. Lay the 김 on a piece of aluminum foil, and spread the sticky rice across 2/3-3/5 of it.

2. Add your toppings: Stick items first, wet items last.  (Should you choose the tuna mixture, you should lay down two sesame leaves first).  I would recommend never leaving out the pickled radish, as it adds a crunchy texture and a sweet flavor that offsets everything else nicely.  Use the kimchee similarly to wasabi.

3. Roll everything up, but stop just before the end to add a line of sticky rice to act as glue.  Then roll everything up, pressing firmly on the seal.

4. Brush on the top a light coating of sesame oil to ease with cutting, and cut into pieces.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, but, just in case you don't... here's another one that's a bit more Americanized.

My entire Korean class.

<3  Happy eating.

(And leave me a comment if you try it out!  I want to know what you think!!!)