Gimbap is a stable in Korean food. It is cooked rice and other ingredients rolled in Gim, aka, a sheet of seaweed. Is it like sushi? :-/ Well... they do look alike but actually they are not the same. You see, traditionally sushi rice is seasoned with vinegar and has mostly raw ingredients (fish) inside. (When I say "traditionally", I mean sushi in Japan, not some whitewashed sushi with cream cheese filling.) On the other hand, gimbap uses rice seasoned with sesame oil and salt and with cooked ingredients, such as eggs, cooked meat, and vegetables. Now, I first impression or my first time trying gimbap was a disappointment. Why? Because I was expecting to taste sushi but instead I was experiencing a complete different and unfamiliar taste and texture in my mouth. Korean food was not something my tastebuds were used to. I expected something raw and vinegar-y, not sesame oil and cooked meat in nori sheet! I was confused! It wasn't until I learnt and started to love Korean Food, thanks to all my Korean friends!
Gimbap requires a lots of mise-en-place but the process is simple. We start with rice.
Ingredient
3 cups white short grain rice, thoroughly rinsed with running water till water clears
2.75 cups Water
a Dutch oven (or cook rice in a rice cooker)
a pinch of Salt
2 Tsp Sesame Oil
Instruction
In a Dutch oven, add rice, salt, and water. Turn stove on to medium high heat and cover. Once water boils, immediately reduce heat to simmer, set timer to 15 minutes. Keep lid on.
Once time goes off, turn heat off but do not remove lid. Leave it for another 15 minutes.
Once your rice is ready, remove lid and use a rice paddle to loosen the rice. Slowly add in sesame oil and use the paddle to mix oil in with rice. Turn the paddle to vertical like a straight line goes up and down. Keep the paddle this way while you "cut" into the rice. It will mix sesame oil thoroughly with rice. Set rice aside.
Other Fillings
A. Shredding Carrot: Shred 1 medium size carrot into a bowl. Lightly pan fried for 2 minutes, season with salt and sesame oil. Set side.
B. Pre-packaged Yellow Pickled Radish: There can be found in Asian supermarket, usually next to tofu. Cut pickled radish into long strips.
C. Long Stem Spinach: If root is intact, that is great. The root will keep the whole thing together and easier to work with. Make sure it is thoroughly washed. Boil a pot of water and blanch spinach for a minute. Spinach cooks very fast, once the color turns dark green, remove from the pot, immediately soak spinach in ice water from cooking further. Drain and gently squeeze water from spinach, season with sesame oil and salt. Line the spinach on a chopping board, cut off roots. Set spinach aside.
D. Egg: 4 Large Eggs. Beat eggs lightly with a fork. Use a mesh strainer to strain egg to help smooth egg liquid. Add a pinch of salt to the mix. Over medium low heat, add a few drops of neutral oil to a frying pan, use paper towel to remove any excess oil. Depends on how big the frying pan is, use a ladle to pour 1 ladle of egg liquid to the pan to make a thin egg sheet. If a ladle is not enough, add a little more, but remember we are trying to make a thin sheet of egg, like crepe. Carefully flip the egg sheet with a flat spatula(or 2 spatulas), let cook for a few seconds, then remove from heat. Wait till the sheets are cool to touch, cut into 1 inch long strips. Set aside.
E. Beef: Ground beef or sirloin steak beef strip can be used. If using steak beef, marinade with sauce before cooking. If ground beef is used, add sauce while cooking. To make marinade: 2 tsp Soy Sauce, 1 Minced Garlic, ¼ tsp Black Pepper, 1 Tsp Sugar, 2 tsp Sesame Oil.
F. Other Fillings: other ingredients can also be used to make gimbap. For example: kimchi, cucumber, tofu block, etc. There is no limitation to what to use.
Gim Sheets
Seaweed sheets (gim) can be found in Asian section or Asian supermarkets. Before rolling, roast the sheets over fire a couple times. This step can be omitted if you are not comfortable doing it.
Rolling
You will need a bamboo mat to help rolling, if this is your first time. Place the mat flat on the counter, place seaweed sheet on top of it. Put rice on top of the seaweed sheet, not too much, then start putting fillings on rice.
Roll the bottom of the bamboo mat up, hold the roll tight, then roll it up again to secure everything.
Brush sesame oil on top then sprinkle toasted sesame seeds.
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