Not my mom's gimbap

Koreans like to snack on a rice/seaweed roll known as gimbap. (”Gim” is the Korean word for seaweed, and “bap” is the word for rice.) You may have seen these tubular snacks that closely resemble Japanese sushi rolls sold in Asian food markets. Typically, they can be found by the cashier at Korean food stalls and around the prepared foods section.

The Koreans derived gimbap from Japanese futomaki, which is sort of a large sushi roll that usually contains rice and vegetables rolled in a thin sheet of nori (seaweed).

Growing up, I ate a lot of gimbap. My mother handmade them and used a delicate tea whisk that she would dip in sesame oil then lightly swab on crispy sheets of seaweed before layering it with rice and other ingredients.

I don’t know why I waited so long to make gimbap, but it is turning out to be a lot of fun. I love working with all of the colors, and I find myself appreciating this dish even more now that I’m trying my hand at it. Two nights ago, I started without researching how to make it. I took some visual notes on gimbap I spotted at H-Mart this past weekend, and then I purchased all of the ingredients.

In hindsight, I wish I did research a recipe like this one from Serious Eats, I would have picked up some good tips such as:

- How much rice to use and how to layer it on the nori

- Keep the knife blade slick with oil for smoother cutting (I used water like I normally do for cutting food)

- Sauté the julienned carrots to tone down the “raw crunch” factor

I didn’t particularly like the takuan (pickled radish) I picked up. It came in gimbap-ready strips and packaged alongside crunchy strips of burdock root (also good in gimbap). The takuan tasted a bit too waterlogged and not punchy enough in that briny, pickly sense. Next time, I will probably get another brand and julienne the strips on my own.

I used a lot of rice on the first gimbap attempt and covered the entire sheet of nori so it spilled out on the finished product. On the second one, I got the rice amount right (at least for my tastes), but then I ran out of rice on my last one and ended up with a baggy, sad mess.

This experiment is a humbling work in progress, but one that I’m enjoying.

by Gene Lee, Food and More blog