Kimbap

During my vacation last July, one of my friends Josephine, invited me and our other friend Joyce to eat in Ye Dang, a Korean restaurant located in Pasig City. It was my first time to eat in a Korean restaurant and I find it so exciting knowing and tasting Korean foods. I was amazed by how they prepare their foods with a lot of side dishes (mostly veggies) around. 

I can’t get over the taste of the foods and wanted to go back to the place. But of limited time, we were not able to go back there and eat once more. So my craving started again :) I started researching for Korean foods online and found Kimbap challenging to prepare (perhaps because I'm not Korean). Based on my research, Kimbap is Korea's version of Japanese Sushi. There may be slight difference with the ingredients but the preparation and presentation perhaps are nearly the same. 

 My version of Kimbap!

Had seen several recipes online, I decided to prepare like the one below considering also the availability of the ingredients around. It took me several weeks to look for a bamboo mat only to learn that an alternative approach could be possible – that is by using an aluminum foil to wrap and press the seaweed instead. I read that there can be several fillings for Kimbap but I tried these ingredients below.

Ingredients: 

4 pcs Roasted seaweed

Rice

2 cups of cooked rice

2 tsp sesame oil

2 tsp salt

½ tsp roasted sesame seed

Fillings

½ kg ground beef

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 ½ tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp white sugar

Sesame oil

1 medium sized carrot, julienned

226 gms spinach

6pcs crab sticks, sliced

2 eggs

What you need:

Small and large pans

Bamboo mat

Strainer

Measuring cups

Kitchen brush

Procedure:

Marinate the beef 

In a bowl, combine the ingredients for beef which are garlic powder, soy sauce, sugar, and 1 tsp sesame oil

Set aside to marinate

Prepare the spinach

 

Add the spinach to salted boiling water and let it boil for 30 seconds.  

Drain and wash over cold tap water

Squeeze all the excess water with hands

Transfer to a bowl and add 1 tsp of sesame oil and salt to taste

Mix well and set aside

Cook the carrots

 

Heat 1 tsp of olive oil in a pan

Sauté the carrots in

Add salt to taste

Transfer to a bowl and set aside

Prepare the eggs

 

Crack 2 eggs and add salt to taste

Heat a large pan and cook the egg until it turns golden brown

Flip the egg to cook the other side exactly the same as the other

Transfer to a plate and cut into strips

Set aside

Cook the Meat Fillings

 

Cook the crab meat in medium heat

Slice into strips

Set aside

 

Heat a large pan on medium heat

Add cooking oil and fry the marinated beef until cooked

Transfer to a bowl and set aside

Mix the rice

 

Place the cups of rice into a large bowl

Add 2 tsp sesame oil, 2 tsp salt, and the roasted sesame seed

Set aside

Combining them altogether

  

 

Use a bamboo mat as a base and a tool in rolling 

Place a sheet of seaweed, shiny side down over the bamboo mat

Starting from the bottom spread some rice evenly filling almost full of the seaweed (giving allowance to the seaweed)

 

Fillings should start with an inch allowance at the bottom and ends with two inches above (never occupy the entire rice in adding the filling)

Put two slices of egg first at the bottom and top to serve as the border line :)

Add beef at the center

Put carrots and spinach above the beef

Top it with crab meat

Rolling the seaweed sheet

Starting from the bottom, using the bamboo mat, roll the seaweed slowly

 

The first roll should set the excess seaweed where the excess rice is, to stick the bottom of the seaweed to the rice.

 

Gently push as you roll the bamboo mat over the kimbap until you reach the top of the seaweed

Squeeze firmly to make sure the entire kimbap is tight

Brush with sesame oil

Transfer to a chopping board and using a sharp knife, slice the Kimbap into half inch 

Serve with soy sauce mixed with wasabi paste (other dipping sauces are available of your choice)