Tightly rolled cylinders of seasoned rice, colorful vegetables, egg, and beef wrapped in roasted seaweed, sliced into bite-size rounds that are as beautiful as they are portable.
Ingredients
4 cups cooked short-grain rice
4 sheets gim (roasted seaweed)
200g beef sirloin, thinly sliced
2 eggs, beaten
1 large carrot, julienned
1 cucumber, cut into long strips
200g spinach, blanched and seasoned
4 strips pickled radish (danmuji)
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
Salt
Sesame seeds
Instructions
1Season warm rice with sesame oil and salt. Marinate beef in soy sauce and sugar, then cook in a hot skillet.
2Make thin egg sheets by pouring beaten egg into an oiled skillet, cooking flat like a crepe. Slice into strips.
3Sauté julienned carrots with a pinch of salt until just tender. Blanch spinach briefly, squeeze dry, and season with sesame oil and salt.
4Place a sheet of gim shiny-side down on a bamboo mat. Spread rice evenly over the lower two-thirds, leaving a 2cm border at the top.
5Arrange fillings in a line across the center: beef, egg, carrot, spinach, cucumber, and pickled radish.
6Roll tightly from the bottom using the bamboo mat, pressing firmly. Seal the edge with a dab of water.
7Brush the outside of each roll with sesame oil, slice into 1.5cm rounds with a wet knife. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Did You Know?
Gimbap is the most popular picnic and school lunch food in Korea — nearly every Korean has childhood memories of their mother making gimbap for field trip day.