How to make Kimbap: a Korean staple!

Today you are going to learn how to make kimbap:  the traditional "picnic" or snack food of Korea.  Much like a California roll, but Koreanized, kimbap is rice and various ingredients wrapped in seaweed or "kim".  At first it really didn't trill me, but no kimbap is a food that I really enjoy eating for a light lunch or if we are traveling.  

This past week, some of the student helpers at the English Village told us that they would teach us how to make kimbap so we were in!  Even though Danny and I have an EXTREME love for sushi rolls, surprisingly enough we had never made any type of roll before.

As we got ready to create the rolls, we laid out all the "traditional" kimbap ingredients and some not so traditional ones.  Generally, kimbap contains egg fried thin and cut into strips, kimchi, yellow radish, cucumber, carrot,  a soaked root that kinda has a teriaki taste to it, rice, and some sort of meat, usually ham or tuna.  I brought chicken to try in my kimbap, and even though it weirded out the Koreans that I was steering away from the norm, I did it anyways.

So here is your chance to try a new homemade cuisine yourself as you learn how to make simple and delicious... KIMBAP! (you need to read it with a dramatic pause for effect and make sure to yell kimbap so you really get yourself excited!)

Step 1: Lay out the "kim" (seaweed wrap) on a sushi rolling mat.

Step 2:  Spread sticky rice over the kim, about 3/4 of the way, so you get rice all the way around the other ingredients.

Step 3:  Lay out the various ingredients that you want in your kimbap on the rice.

Step 4: Fold over the kim and start rolling up your kimbap!

 

Step 5:  Put a little sticky rice at the edge of the kim to help seal the roll together.

And now enjoy!  I decided to spice up my kimbap by doing a bbq chicken roll and it was pretty awesome.  You could do beef, spicy tuna, ham, or basically anything else you can think of to make your kimbap what you want!

Here are just a few more tips that will help you when you make your kimbap...

-  Don't put too little rice or you won't get it to stick together well.

-  Cut your veggies into long strips and if you want some veggies to be a little more tender to eat, like carrots or peppers, saute them in a pan for just a few minutes.  

-  Spice up your sticky rice by adding a little sesame oil and black sesame seeds.

-  Salt your cucumber to get some of the excess water out of them.

And there you go!  Go forth and make kimbap!  It's a delicious snack and I know once you have it, it will be a definite favorite.  Enjoy!