gimbap
filled with marinated pork belly, danmuji, spinach and carrots, egg omelette, spring onion and ssamjang + a recipe for a bean sprouts side dish
Key points:
take care of your rice
soak it in cold water to speed up the cooking time
rinse it multiple times to get rid of the milky starch to avoid sticky rice
1:1 rice-water ratio
before rolling, let it cool off but use it fresh so it doesn’t get dry
dampen your hands with water and shake the water off before spreading the rice to prevent the rice sticking to your hands
flavour it with salt, sesame oil and sesame seeds
place a half sheet gim on rice so it separates the rice from the filling, for a better appearance
don’t forget to include a fermented ingredient in the filling to make it punchy - some examples:
danmuji (yellow pickled radish)
pickled jalapeno
baechu kimchi (napa cabbage kimchi)
remember to season each ingredient of the filling with salt/soy sauce/sesame oil (apart from the pickles as they’re already quite salty)
drain the excess vegetable water to prevent gim (dried seaweed sheet) from getting soggy
don’t overcrowd the gimbap and roll it tightly so it doesn’t fall apart
smear a little bit of sesame oil on the top of a roll and the blade of your knife so it’s easier to cut
Pork belly gimbap recipe
Serve: 6 rolls (1 roll per person)
Ingredients:
Marinated meat:
400g pork belly
20g oyster sauce
5g fish sauce
10g agave syrup
20 turns of a black pepper mill
sea salt
vegetable oil
Rice:
500g short-grain rice
500g water
sesame oil
toasted sesame seeds
sea salt
Other:
250g spinach
2 garlic cloves
10g sesame oil
3g sesame seeds and some for serving
sea salt
9 sheets of gim (dried seaweed)
12 strips of danmuji (yellow pickled radish)
2 stalks of spring onion
2 carrots
4 whole eggs
80g of ssamjang (a thick and savoury paste made with fermented soybeans and red chilli paste)
sesame seeds for presentation
sea salt
black pepper
vegetable oil
Method:
Soak the rice (500g) for 30 minutes so the texture becomes more fluffy and cooks quickly.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, heavily seasoned with salt.
Slice pork belly (around 1cm thickness), season with sea salt and place it in a bowl. Marinate the meat in oyster and fish sauce, agave syrup, and freshly ground pepper. The marinade adds depth of flavour and increases browning when pan-frying. Set it aside.
Vegetables 🥕
Cut carrots into long matchsticks. Try to make the pieces as long as possible. Blanch them for 3 minutes, then rinse them in cold water, and place them on a paper towel to remove the excess water. Season with salt.
Mince garlic. Blanch spinach for around 2 minutes, and then cool it down under cold water. Gently squeeze out extra water and massage the blanched spinach with minced garlic, sesame seeds, sesame oil, and salt in a medium bowl.
Cut the spring onion stalks in half along their longer side and wash them in cold water to remove the dirt from the green section. Then halve them again into 4 long quarter pieces.
I used precut danmuji - if yours is not already prepped, cut it into long strips.
Rice 🍚
After the soaking step, rinse the rice (I always rinse it 7 times) in the pot, massaging it with a swirling motion of your hand. Wash it until the water runs clear. This important step removes excess starch and any debris that’s left between grains and it is crucial in order to achieve a fluffy and tender rice.
Measure the same amount of water (500g) and add it to the rice. Bring a pan to a boil over medium heat, change the heat to low and cook the rice for 15 minutes with a lid on (don’t open the lid as we want to keep the steam inside).
Turn off the heat and leave the rice to steam in the pot for another 10 minutes.
Transfer the rice to a medium bowl and season it with salt, sesame oil and sesame seeds. Gently fold in ingredients using a silicon spatula or a rice paddle. Set aside to cool down the rice on a counter (until lukewarm). If you place hot rice on the gim, the dried seaweed will shrink.
Egg omelette 🥚
In a medium bowl crack 4 eggs, season with salt and freshly ground pepper and beat with a whisk. Warm up a non-stick pan to low to medium heat, coat the bottom of the pan with a splash of vegetable oil, and add a thin layer of whipped eggs (around one ladle). Cook one side for around 3 minutes, then flip the omelette over and cook for a few more seconds. Place it on the chopping board and cut into 1cm long slices.
Cook marinated pork belly 🥓
Heat a pan with a bit of vegetable oil. Cook the pork belly over medium heat until browned (for 3/4 minutes each side). Once cooked place it on a separate plate.
Roll gimbap in 5️⃣ steps
Have all ingredients on hand and prepare a bowl with water on the side.
Step 1️⃣
Cut a sheet of gim in half
Do this to create a dividing line between the gimbap filling and the rice so that the roll when you cut it looks neater
Step 2️⃣
Use 1.5 sheets of gim for each roll:
Put a gim (shiny side down) on a chopping board
Dip your hands in water to prevent stickiness and shake extra water off
Place a ‘tennis ball’ of rice and spread it thinly on the gim covering ⅔ of the gim surface, leaving around 3 cm at the top edge
If you need more rice, wet your fingers again and then grab and distribute the rice
Place a half gim in the middle of the rice
Step 3️⃣
In the middle of the half gim put a piece of pork belly, followed by a smear of ssamjang
Arrange 2 strips of danmuji and egg omelette, blanched spinach and carrots and 2 bits of spring onions
Make sure the ingredients are evenly distributed creating a colour contrast
Step 4️⃣
Lift the bottom edge slightly and roll the gimbap tightly using your both hands while keeping the filling in place with your fingers by going away from you
Once you tucked in the ingredients and want to seal the kimbap, make a few dots with water and seal the roll
Squeeze the gimbap gently and roll a few more times to achieve a perfect circular shape
Step 5️⃣
Place a roll seam side down
Brush the top of the roll and the blade of the knife with sesame oil
Add some sesame seeds on top of the roll
Using a sharp knife or a serrated knife cut 2cm slices
Serve with banchan (Korean side dishes) such as baechu kimchi and beansprouts
How to store leftovers
In my opinion, gimbap tastes the best on the same day of making but if you want to keep some for the next day - keep it unsliced and store it in the fridge in an airtight container. Before eating take it out from the fridge early enough so it comes to room temperature. I recommend dipping the cut rolls in some egg batter and then pan-frying the pieces.
Bean sprouts side dish recipe
Serve: 2
Ingredients:
160g beansprouts
1/2 stalk of spring onion
10g fresh coriander
1 garlic clove
20g sesame oil
2g sesame seeds
3g fish sauce
3g gochugaru (Korean chilli powder)
sea salt
Method:
Bring a medium pot with water to a boil and add salt. Thinly slice spring onions, fresh coriander, and mince garlic. Blanch the beansprouts for 2 minutes (don’t overcook as we want the crunchy texture), refresh in cold water and drain on a paper towel to remove the excess water. In a medium bowl combine all the components and combine. Garnish with sesame seeds.
