Kimbap

So I was visiting my in-laws in Oahu and in a whirl of over-eating, watching Korean soap operas, and trying to sleep off the giant meal we just ate, I finally managed to get my mother-in-law to teach me how to make Kimbap. She has a very specific way of cooking by feel so the recipe is not exact. She has probably made this meal a thousand times so I understand that she doesn't have any need for exact measurements. I think she found it perplexing when I asked her to estimate the amounts. She would just say "oh you know, a little bit" and hold out her hand to show me. The next time I make it I will measure out the ingredients but this is my best guess of the amounts she used.

This is my husband's favorite Korean dish so I wanted to try to figure out how to make it for him. It is a lot of preparation but it's really good to make for a large group of people. I would estimate that you could feed 5-6 people with this recipe. We had 4 people at dinner plus a ton of leftovers that we ate on the plane ride home. The radish, sushinori, and bamboo mat are the only ingredients that you might not be able to find in an average supermarket, but you can find them at any asian market.

She said you can also substitute some cucumber for the spinach. I imagine you can make any number of substitutions depending on what you have. She also used some brown and purple rice mixed in but I like the plain white rice more. If I'm feeling ambitious I might try to make these at Thanksgiving. I like that I can easily make half of these vegetarian for my sister and cousins.

This seems like a lot of steps but you can prepare the filling ingredients well in advance and then roll the sushi whenever you are ready. This is not served piping hot but more at room temperature with kim chi.

Ingredients:
1 white onion
soy sauce
black pepper
salt
sugar
olive oil
1/2 large yellow pickled daikon radish (julienned)
2 carrots (julienned)
5 eggs
1 bunch of spinach (with large stems)
2 lbs. lean cut of beef cut into strips
1 package of sushinori
bamboo mat for rolling sushi

Directions:
1. Prepare 5 cups of white rice in the rice cooker or according to the directions on the package. Marinate the beef with onion, 1 tbsp. olive oil, 2 tbsp. soy sauce, 1 tbsp. sugar, and some black pepper for about 2 hours. You can reserve the onions for another dish like Bulgolgi but you won't actually use them in this recipe other than as a marinade.

2. Julienne radish and carrots. The radish looks similar to this one in its package although I didn't take this picture. I have seen them at the Korean market near our house:


3. Squeeze the extra juice out of the radishes with a paper towel.

4. Season the eggs with some salt, pepper, and olive oil and make two flat omelets from them. Cut into 1/2 inch strips. Set aside.

5. Saute the carrots in the omelet pan with a little salt and oil over high heat for a few minutes. Set aside.

6. Bring 5 cups of salted water to a rolling boil and then remove from heat. Place the spinach inside the boiled water for a minute or so until just wilted but not mushy. Drain and set aside.

7. Saute the marinated beef until browned.

8. Gather all of your ingredients and remove the rice from the cooker to cool slightly (to make it easier to wrap).



9. Lay a piece of shushinori with the rough side up on a cutting board. place rice about 1/2 and inch thick onto the bottom half of the sushi (slightly more than half). Smear some of the rice pieces along the top to help seal it.


10. Layer a piece of omelet, strips of beef, carrots, spinach, and radish on top of the rice.


11. Try to roll the rice so that it covers the ingredients inside. Use the mat to continue to seal and wrap up the roll. Continue rolling the ingredients in this way until you run out.



12. Use a sharp knife coated in sesame oil to cut the sushi into about 6-8 pieces/roll.