Kimbap is another one of the those foods I’m always down to eat. However, it’s also one of those foods hard to justify eating out for all the time. Does that keep me from buying it when I see at H-Mart or at a restaurant? No, but I do feel a tinge of remorse and guilt after inhaling subpar kimbap which I know is inexpensive to make at home? Maybe..yes. H-Mart has a lot of rice in comparison to their veggies ratio, and although I’ve found a yummy place that does Kimbap at a restaurant, it’s 14 dollars before tax and tip + sometimes even the delivery charge! Big no from my inner frugal granny!
Making this at home actually isn’t that bad and you can pretty much choose whichever protein and vegetables you want to go along with. It’s actually quick and so delicious! My favorite combo of ingredients are below, give it a try! 🙂
Ingredients:
- Rectangular Korean fish cakes
- Egg
- Carrots
- Spinach
- Korean pickled yellow radish and pickled burdock root (comes in a package together most times)
- Ham/ground/beef/bulgogi/meat of choice
- Imitation crab sticks
- Toasted sesame oil + salt to taste
- Soy sauce
- Sweetener of your choice (I used agave)
- Rice
- Seaweed sheets
Preparing the Spinach:
1. Blanch your spinach (boil for 1-2 minutes and submerge in ice bath immediately)
2. Squeeze out the extra water from your spinach.
3. If using long stemmed spinach, once you squeeze the water from your spinach, slice your spinach in 2 or 3 parts.
4. Season with toasted sesame oil and salt.
(Optional: add minced garlic)
Preparing the Carrots:
1. Julienne the carrots
2. Mix a pinch of salt into your carrots and let sit for 1-2 minutes to extract some of the water
3. Saute in a pan with a little bit of sesame oil for 1-2 minutes. You want the carrots to be softened, but still have texture.
(Optional: add minced garlic)
Preparing the Egg:
1. Crack and stir about 2-3 eggs until its homogenized
2. Oil a square pan or whatever frying pan you have and pour a thin layer of egg to cover the bottom surface.
3. Cover for about 10 seconds and then flip the egg out of the pan onto a clean surface.
4. Repeat until you’re done with your eggs.
5. Roll each of your egg omelets and slice (about 1/3 of an inch) so you can have long strips of eggs.
Preparing the Fish Cake:
1. Defrost 3-4 of the frozen Korean fishcakes enough so that you can slice them safely hotdog style. You want to slice as thin as you do with your egg (~1/3 of an inch)
2. Oil a pan on medium low heat, and add your fish cake.
3. Add about 1 tbs light soysauce and about 3 tsp of your sweetener (I used agave but honey and sugar are okay too)
4. Taste and adjust to your preference. The Korean soy sauce I use is very light in sodium, but if yours is saltier you may want to start off with less than 1 tbs and adjust accordingly.
5. Saute the fishcakes until the sauce is sticky and set aside
Optional Rice Preparation:
– Season your rice with toasted sesame oil and a pinch of salt
Kimbap Assembly!
1. On a seaweed sheet, add a thin layer of rice. Make sure you get the sides and ends of the seaweed sheet so that it’ll be easier to get uniformed pieces.
2. Layer your prepared vegetables and meat, and roll!
This helps a lot if you have a sushi bamboo rolling mat, but if you don’t have one, you can definitely still assemble without. Before, I used to plastic wrap my bamboo sushi rollers, but I found that a gallon Ziploc bag does the trick, and is much easier to clean and reuse. Happy eating! 🙂