{"id":16635,"date":"2014-08-17T11:05:07","date_gmt":"2014-08-17T09:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=16635"},"modified":"2014-08-17T15:23:18","modified_gmt":"2014-08-17T13:23:18","slug":"korean-rice-rolls-gimbapkimbap-%ea%b9%80%eb%b0%a5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=16635","title":{"rendered":"Korean Rice Rolls (Gimbap\/Kimbap \uae40\ubc25)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"kor_maki\"Given my growing interest and experience in Korean cooking, the gimbap\u00a0–\u00a0making adventure was inevitable. Especially since last year, when I saw beautiful colourful\u00a0rice rolls in Tokyo’s Korean district. Unfortunately, I was no longer hungry (easy to understand after a BBQ dinner…) and didn’t have time to go back there\u00a0before my return to Europe. Finally, after long months, I made my first attempt, which was much more satisfactory in terms of taste than in\u00a0its aesthetic results. I hope you will believe me\u00a0that clumsy-looking rice rolls can also make\u00a0a fully\u00a0enjoyable meal.<\/p>\n

For those who have never had\u00a0much more famous Japanese rice rolls (maki sushi)<\/a>, their basic ingredients are seaweed sheets (nori) and vinegared rice. The filling\u00a0varies, but\u00a0it\u00a0usually includes one or more of such\u00a0ingredients as fish, seafood, cucumber, pickled radish or avocado. For me the main difference between maki sushi and Korean gimbap\/kimbap is the rice seasoning : here vinegar is also added to the rice (at least in my both cookery books), but a tiny amount only and the sesame oil’s presence dominates the final taste. The gimbap filling\u00a0is usually richer and very colourful. It\u00a0often contains\u00a0beef, pickled radish, sliced omelette, cooked spinach and, for example, carrot.The sesame-scented\u00a0rice is so delicious, you want to finish it on its own while mixing… so beware! (I kept on “tasting” it throughout the whole rolls preparation process.)<\/p>\n

If I had to choose between Japanese and Korean rolls, I must say I prefer the vinegared maki sushi<\/a>\u00a0,but mainly because I associate rice rolls with a very light, refreshing meal and vinegared rice gives more easily this impression. Gimbap is heartier and maybe less sophisticated… but\u00a0there is something more casual, joyful and playful about Korean rolls… so I’m sure I will be making them from time to time. (And the taste of rice mixed with sesame oil was a revelation). Up to you to choose which ones you prefer!<\/p>\n

I have combined here two slightly different recipes from The Food and Cooking of Korea by Young Jin Song<\/a><\/span>\u00a0and Growing Up in a Korean Kitchen by Hi Soo Shin Hepinstall<\/a><\/span>, both fantastic, though completely different cookbooks, the former being\u00a0rather\u00a0for beginners and the latter one of the biggest jewels in my kitchen\u00a0library. Apart from using two sources, I\u00a0have modified the filling substantially, namely adding raw cucumber and leek and skipping some ingredients (I did leave\u00a0however the “flagship” beef and omelette), so\u00a0can only I hope I still have the right to\u00a0call these rolls “gimbap” in spite of all the changes… As in the case of maki sushi, I have used here a lower rice vs filling\u00a0ratio than in the original recipe (see the TIPS below).<\/p>\n

TIPS: Since I am able to devour lots of rice rolls (maki sushi or gimbap), I reduce the rice amount in order to make them lighter and low-calorie. As you see on the photo above, the filling takes here more space than the rice. If you prefer a standard, not lightened version, increase the rice amount (500 g or about 17,5 oz\u00a0instead of 300 g or about 10,5 oz).<\/p>\n

When you buy seaweed (nori)\u00a0sheets, pay attention to their transparency and colour. I was told in Japan that darker and less transparent nori means better quality (of course there are more sophisticated criteria to judge the quality once the nori is dark and opaque enough to be considered good quality, but I found the above tip\u00a0a good way\u00a0to discard low-quality products).<\/span><\/p>\n

Hi Soo Shin Hepinstall, the author of\u00a0Growing Up in a Korean Kitchen<\/a><\/span>, advises serving gimbap with vinegared soy sauce (check her book for the recipe) and hot yellow mustard. I have served them with\u00a0soy sauce mixed with sesame oil and vinegar only.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Special equipment:<\/em><\/p>\n

rice cooker (unless you know how to cook the rice in a \u201cnormal\u201d pan)<\/em><\/p>\n

maki rolling mat\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

a brush<\/em><\/p>\n

Preparation:<\/strong> 20 minutes (+ 1 hour for rice rinsing, cooking, seasoning and cooling)<\/em><\/p>\n

Ingredients (serves 4 as the main course)<\/strong>:<\/em><\/p>\n

5 nori seaweed sheets<\/em><\/p>\n

300g (about 10,5 oz) short grain (Japanese or Korean) rice (or 500g\/about 17,5 oz\u00a0if you prefer \u201cstandard\u201d \u00a0rolls)<\/em><\/p>\n

Rice mixture:<\/em><\/p>\n

1 teaspoon rice vinegar
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

1 teaspoon sesame oil<\/i><\/p>\n

1\/4 teaspoon salt<\/em><\/p>\n

1 flat teaspoon sugar<\/i><\/p>\n

1 tablespoon rice wine (I have used sake)<\/em><\/p>\n

1 long\u00a0cucumber, cut into strips<\/em><\/p>\n

(1 long thin leek)<\/em><\/p>\n

2 eggs<\/em><\/p>\n

1 big carrot, cut into strips (in the recipe it’s stir-fried, but I preferred to use it raw)<\/em><\/p>\n

oil (for the omelette frying)<\/em><\/p>\n

100 g ground beef ;\u00a0the recipe calls either for finely chopped beef or for thin beef strips (at Hi Soo Shin Hepinstall’s), so you can chop it\u00a0or cut into thin strips too<\/em><\/p>\n

Beef marinade:<\/em><\/p>\n

2 teaspoons soy sauce<\/em><\/p>\n

1 teaspoon sugar<\/em><\/p>\n

1 teaspoon sesame oil<\/em><\/p>\n

2 crushed or grated garlic cloves<\/em><\/p>\n

(chilli flakes)<\/em><\/p>\n

2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds<\/em><\/p>\n

sesame oil<\/em><\/p>\n

a small bowl of\u00a0water\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Steam the rice.<\/p>\n

In the meantime mix the marinade with the beef and put aside for ten minutes.<\/p>\n

Beat the eggs in a bowl, season with salt and fry a flat omelette.
\nCut the omelette into thin strips and put them aside.<\/p>\n

Put the hot rice into a bowl and add the rice mixture ingredients. Stir well and leave to cool down.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the rice has cooled down to the room temperature (it can\u2019t be completely cold, otherwise it won\u2019t be sticky enough), put a nori sheet vertically on the rolling mat, shiny side down.<\/p>\n

Fry the beef and let it cool down.<\/p>\n

With fingers dipped in a bowl of water\u00a0spread 1\/5th of the rice evenly, leaving a 1 cm gap on the top, far edge.<\/p>\n

Arrange the filling ingredients on the rice, in a horizontal line, close to the bottom edge.<\/p>\n

Sprinkle with sesame seeds and with sesame oil.<\/p>\n

Roll the gimbap\u00a0starting from the bottom edge, gently pressing after each turn.<\/p>\n

Brush with water\u00a0the upper edge before doing the last turn (it will help to seal the roll).<\/p>\n

Press gently the roll and put it aside.<\/p>\n

In order to obtain more or less similarly sized pieces, cut the roll first in two parts, then put them in a row and cut them in two parts, etc.<\/p>\n

(It is easier to cut the rolls with a moist knife blade.)<\/p>\n

Arrange them on a plate and serve.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Given my growing interest and experience in Korean cooking, the gimbap\u00a0–\u00a0making adventure was inevitable. Especially since last year, when I saw beautiful colourful\u00a0rice rolls in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[186,77,44,206,85,22],"tags":[45],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16635"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16635"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16656,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16635\/revisions\/16656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}