Mama Chin's Kimbap (김밥)
Ingredients:
4 dried seaweed sheets (gim / sushi nori)
120g / 4.2 ounces spinach
1 cucumber, cut into long strips
2 eggs, beaten
1 carrot, julienned
4 yellow radish pickle (danmuji), cut into long strips if you didn’t buy the pre-cut version
1 lb Bulgogi
Pre-made bulgogi sauce (I like the Chung Jung One brand)
12 strips seasoned edible burdock root (optional)
2 cups of Rice
2 Tbsp of Sesame oil
Salt
Steps:
Marinate bulgogi in bulgogi sauce and let sit for at least an hour
Place cooked rice in a bowl and mix with 1/2 Tbsp of sesame oil
Rinse the spinach and boil it in rapidly boiling water (30 seconds to 1 minute). Drain the water away and run some cold water over the spinach. Gently squeeze the spinach to remove any excess water. Put the spinach into a bowl. Add 1/8 tsp salt and 1/2 Tbsp sesame oil then mix them well.
Pre-heat a pan/skillet. Add a small dash of cooking oil and spread it around the pan. Add the beaten egg and cook both sides well over medium heat. Place the egg omelet on a cutting board and cut it into long strips.
Slice cucumber into long strips and salt it and wait 5-10min to squeeze out excess water (to make it crunchy)
In a heated pan, lightly cook the carrots (about 1 min) and over medium heat
In a heated pan, cook bulgogi over medium heat
Gather all the kimbap ingredients at the ‘kimbap rolling station’ (egg, cucumber, spinach, carrots, bulgogi, burdock root, yellow radish)
Place one dried seaweed sheet on the bamboo mat (shiny side down). Put the rice on the seaweed sheet then spread it evenly and thinly to cover about 2/3 of the seaweed. (Leave about 5cm / 2 inches gap at the top of the seaweed).
Fill the seaweed with the filing ingredients. Make sure you evenly use the ingredients so that you’re not short of them later. Once filled, roll the seaweed. If the seaweed doesn’t stick, paste some water on the gap you left. You can also use a few grains of cooked rice in this gap. Set the rolled kimbap aside.
Repeat last two steps
Line up all kimbap on a cutting board and paste some sesame oil (1 Tbsp) around the seaweed surface. Slice kimbap into bite size pieces. Serve.
