Kimbap

My first experience with kimbap, a Korean snake made up of rice and vegetable \ meat filling wrapped in dried seaweed, happened at a little shop in Manyeondong, a neighbourhood in Daejeon.  I remember ordering two rolls and being completely blown away by the price, which was about 4000 Korean Won, about CAD 4.50 at the time.  I wasn’t immediately in love with this particular snack the first time I tried it, but over the years I grew to enjoy it a lot. It’s cheap, healthy, easy to make, and easy to take with you when travelling.

Kimbap became a go-to snack while I lived in South Korea.  I’d take it on hikes, or it would be one of the dishes at the table that everyone could pick at when eating in one of the cheap Korean restaurants that I have come to miss since leaving the country.

Kimbap
Ingredients 7 sheets of dried seaweed 1 large kimbap sausage  4 hot dogs, each into halves 1 log yellow radish (danmuji 단무지) 4 cups of freshly cooked rice (requires about 1.5 cups uncooked) 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil 1/2 tsp toasted sesame seeds 3 eggs, beaten 2 Tbsp water pinch of salt 1 Tbsp olive oil 200 g spinach, stemmed 1/2 tsp sesame oil 1/2 tsp salt 1 large carrot cut into matchsticks or long strips 1/4 tsp sesame oil 1/2 tsp salt

Rinse the rice under water and place into a rice maker or medium saucepan.  If you want to do this Korean style, add water until it’s the depth of a fingernail. I would use my pinky for this since my hands are bigger than the Korean ladies who taught me their method of cooking rice. While the rice is cooking, prep the fillings.

Fry the hotdogs in a pan until the inside cut ends are browned. Then slice each hot dog half to form two more strips.  Arrange the hotdog strips together on a paper towel. Cut the radish into strips and place next to the hot dog strips.

Heat the olive oil in a 12-inch pan over med-high.  Beat the eggs in a bowl together with water and salt.  Pour the mixture into the pan. It will spread evenly to form a thin layer.  Cook for 1-2 minutes and flip, allowing the other side to cook for 1-2 minutes. Slide the omelette out of the pan and onto a cutting board.  Cut into strips and place alongside the hotdog and radish strips.

Blanch the spinach in 2 L of boiling water for 30 seconds. Drain it and run under some cold water to cool it. Squeeze out the water and place into a bowl.  Season the spinach with salt and sesame oil. Mix the spinach around the bowl by hand to ensure that it gets evenly seasoned.

Sauté the carrots in a pan with sesame oil and salt.  Set the carrots and spinach next to the other kimbap fillings.

Set aside 1/4 cup of rice, which will act as a kimbap glue later. Mix the remaining rice with 1/2 tsp of salt and 1 Tbsp of sesame oil in a bowl and set it next to your filling ingredients. Organising your workspace like this will make assembling the kimbap easy.  Here’s what my setup looked like. I kept the rice in a large bowl to the left of the other ingredients (out of frame).

Once your ingredients are organised, place a sheet of seaweed, dull side facing up, on a bamboo sushi mat.  Take about a half-cup of seasoned rice and spread it out over the lower half of the seaweed. Leave about a finger-width of rice exposed at the bottom and Place a line of each filling ingredient on top of it.

Spread some of the rice we set aside for glue along the top edge of the seaweed. Grab the bottom edge of the sushi mat and roll it about halfway and give it a squeeze.  Finish rolling it to the top and give it another squeeze. Brush the kimbap roll with a little sesame oil to prevent it from sticking to other rolls.

Once all of the rolls are made cut them into 10 or 12 pieces with a sharp knife.  If you don’t have a good knife, a serrated knife will do.  Arrange the slices on a place and eat as is or use some soy sauce for dipping. You can also add some chilli flakes to the soy sauce to spice it up a bit.