Recipes

Kimbap, Korean sushi

Kimbap

Kimbap is a Korean rice-based dish, very easy to make and with few ingredients. Here is the simple recipe to create in the kitchen.

Each culture has its own peculiarities when it comes to gastronomy and today we are preparing a truly delicious variant of sushi (but be careful not to call it that or the Koreans will get very angry). We are talking about kimbap or gimbap. This typical product has rice wrapped in seaweed and then stuffed with different ingredients as its basic ingredients . It is completely natural to call it Korean sushi but in reality there are some differences between the two recipes.

The original recipe includes spinach, carrots, omelette, cucumber and danmuji , the fermented yellow daikon omnipresent in the country's recipes. To enrich the dish you can use meat or fish : the most popular version is the one with canned meat (we used canned ham), but also with tuna you will get a very tasty dish. Let's see all the steps, variations and origins of this dish that we have learned about also thanks to Squid Game .

Preparation

How to prepare kimbap recipe

First, wash the rice under cold water several times, until the water is clear.

Then transfer it to a pan and cover with the water called for in the recipe. Bring to the boil with the lid on, then lower the heat and cook for 10 minutes . All the water must have been absorbed. Turn off the heat and let it rest for 5 minutes with the lid on.

Season the rice while it is still hot with the sesame seed oil and salt then set it aside and concentrate on the other ingredients.

Blanch the spinach in salted water for a couple of minutes, just long enough for it to soften, then season it with a teaspoon of sesame oil and the sesame seeds and set aside.

Peel the carrot , cut it into julienne strips and sauté it in the pan for 2-3 minutes with a drizzle of oil . It should soften while maintaining its crunchy texture.

Beat the eggs in a bowl, adding a pinch of salt and cook them in a lightly oiled pan to obtain a very thin omelette. Once ready, let cool and cut into strips.

Also peel the cucumber and cut it to the same size as the carrots. Also cut the ham into strips (if you find canned meat, sauté it in the pan and cut it into sticks).

Now all that remains is to assemble the gimbap. Place a sheet of seaweed on the sushi mat and cover it with the rice, forming a layer of about half a centimeter. Along the side furthest from you, leave a 1cm strip without anything: you will need it to close the roll more easily. To prevent the rice from sticking to your hands, always keep them moist.

Then place all the ingredients of the filling very close together, not forgetting, in addition to those we have just prepared, the pickled daikon .

Using the mat , roll it up tightly . Moisten the strip of seaweed left empty and close, sealing. Proceed in the same way for the others. Transfer them to the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before cutting and serving them.

Here is a video recipe very similar to ours to give you an idea of how to proceed. It's really very simple especially if, as we recommended, you use the appropriate sushi mat.

Variants

In addition to canned meat, which we have replaced with cooked ham because it is easier to find, you can use chicken frankfurters cut into quarters and sautéed in a pan. It is not uncommon to find gimbap with tuna. For a single tuna roll, mix a can of drained tuna with a spoonful of mayonnaise and use it together with the other ingredients.

For a vegetarian or vegan kimbap, cut some tofu into sticks and brown it in a pan with soy sauce and sesame oil. Alternatively, use only the vegetable component. As with Japanese sushi , also in this case you can give vent to your imagination with the combinations you prefer. Among the most popular (and unusual) is the one with kimchi , fermented cabbage.

If you can't find sushi rice you can use short grain Vialone nano , very rich in starch and suitable for this type of recipe.

Conservation

Once you try these Korean kimbaps, you won't be able to do without them anymore. You can easily prepare them in the kitchen and store them in the fridge for up to 1 day .

Origin and history

Kimbap is also known by the name of gimbap, born from the union of two Korean words: gim , which indicates a whole category of edible seaweed, and bap , which indicates different types of cooked rice. The word appears for the first time in the 20th century so it is a relatively recent development.

However, untangling the knots of the problem regarding the origin of the dish itself is not so simple. A first theory states that gimbap has always been present , albeit in different forms, in Korean cuisine. Others, however, maintain that it was born following the Japanese domination of the country in the early 1900s. In support of this, the first name given to the dish: norimaki .

Only following an operation to "purify" the Korean language was kimbap or gimbap introduced. Although it resembles Japanese maki in appearance, the Korean variant differs from them in at least two aspects:

Seasoning : Rice in Korea is seasoned with sesame seed oil and not rice vinegar;
Ingredients : the filling is much richer in the Korean version;
Size : due to the abundance of ingredients you have a roll with a decidedly larger diameter but served in thinner slices to make it easier to enjoy.

Depending on the ingredients, Korean sushi can take on different names :

Chungmu gimbap : Small unseasoned rice rolls, served with spicy squid salad and radish kimchi. Created to prevent the fillings from spoiling in the summer, they became popular in the 1970s in Seoul.
Mayak gimbap : small gimbap filled with carrots, spinach and danmuji, with sesame seeds and soy sauce and mustard. The name, which means "drug", alludes to the irresistible flavor.
Samgak gimbap : triangular, inspired by Japanese onigiri, they have various fillings such as tuna, spicy chicken or bibimbap. Introduced in 1991, they revolutionized sales in convenience stores.
Nude gimbap : similar to California Rolls, with rice on the outside and the filling in contact with the seaweed.

Today gimbap is the dish par excellence for packed lunches, eaten during picnics, trips out of town and sports matches.