Gimbap

Gimbap is a popular Korean dish made from steamed white rice (bap) and various other ingredients, rolled in gim (sheets of dried laver seaweed) and served in bite-size slices. It is often eaten during picnics or outdoor events, or as a light lunch, served with danmuji or kimchi.

It was derived from the introduction of Japanese sushi variant norimaki to Korea during the Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945. Since then, gimbap has become a distinct dish, often utilizing traditional Korean flavors, as well as sesame oil, instead of rice vinegar.

The loan word norimaki, which was borrowed from the Japanese dish that was introduced to Korea, was used along with the term gimbap to describe the dish until gimbap was made the universal term, as part of efforts to purify the Korean language.

How to Make Gimbap

Ingredients

5 sheets of gim (seaweed paper), roasted slightly
4 cups cooked rice (the recipe is here, but make with 2 cups of short grain rice instead of 1 cup)
½ pound beef skirt steak (or tenderloin, or ground beef)
1 large carrot, cut into matchsticks (about 1½ cup)
5 strips of yellow pickled radish (use pre-cut danmuji or cut into 8 inch long strips)
8  to 10 ounces spinach (1 small bunch), blanched, rinsed in cold water, and strained
3 eggs
3 garlic cloves
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon brown (or white) sugar
1½ teaspoon salt
2½ tablespoons sesame oil
vegetable oil

Directions

Rice:
1. Place freshly made rice in a large, shallow bowl. Gently mix in 1/2 teaspoon salt and 2 teaspoons sesame oil over top with a rice scoop or a wooden spoon.
2. Let it cool down enough so it’s no longer steaming. Cover and set aside.

Spinach:
3. Combine the blanched spinach, 2 minced garlic cloves, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 2 teaspoons sesame oil in a bowl.
4. Mix well by hand and put it on a large platter with the sliced yellow pickled radish.

Carrots:
5. Combine the carrot matchsticks with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Mix well and let it sweat for 5 to 10 minutes. Heat a pan and add a few drops vegetable oil.
6. Squeeze out excess water from the carrot, then saute for about 1 minute. Put it on the platter next to the spinach.

Steak:
7. Trim the fat from the skirt steaks and slice into 1/4 inch wide, 3 to 5 inch strips. Put the strips into a bowl. Add 2 teaspoons soy sauce, 1 minced garlic clove, 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper,1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon brown (or white) sugar, and 2 teaspoons sesame oil.

8. Mix well by hand.

9. Set aside, and let them marinate while we do the egg strips.

Eggs:

10. Crack 3 eggs in a bowl and add 1/4 teaspoon salt. Beat it with fork and remove the stringy chalaza.

11. Drizzle a few drops of oil on a heated 10 to 12 inch non-stick pan. Wipe off the excess with a paper towel so only a thin sheen of oil remains. Turn down the heat to low and pour the egg mixture into the pan. Spread it into a large circle so it fills the pan.

12. When the bottom of the egg is cooked, flip it over with a spatula. Remove from the heat and let it cook slowly in the hot pan for about 5 minutes, with the ultimate goal of keeping the egg as yellow as possible, and not brown.

13. Cut it into 1/2 inch wide strips. Put it next to the spinach on the platter.

Finish steak:

14. Heat up a pan over medium high heat and cook the marinated beef, stirring it with a wooden spoon until well cooked.

15. Set aside.

Preparing the gimbap:

16. Place a sheet of gim on a bamboo mat with the shiny side down. Evenly spread about 3/4 cup of cooked rice over top of it, leaving about 2 inches uncovered on one side of the gim.

17. Place beef, carrot, yellow pickled radish strip, a few egg strips, and spinach in the center of the rice.

18. Use both hands to roll the mat (along with gim and rice) over the fillings, so one edge of the rice and gim reaches the opposite edge. This centers the fillings in the roll, so they’ll be nicely in the middle when you slice it.

19. Grab the mat with both hands and and press it tightly as you continue rolling the gimbap. Push out the mat as you roll, so it doesn’t get wrapped in the gimbap.

20. Remove the roll from the mat at the end and set the finished roll aside with the seam down, to seal it nicely.

21. Repeat 4 more times with the remaining ingredients.

22. Put some sesame oil on the finished rolls and sprinkle some sesame seeds over top. Cut each roll into 1/4 inch bite size pieces with a sharp knife, occasionally wiping it with a wet paper towel or cloth to clean the starch off and to ease cutting.

23. Put it on a plate and serve immediately or pack it in a lunchbox.