Kimbap (Korean rolls)

Kimbap is a popular snack in Korea. For Koreans, it is a symbol of school trips and family picnics, as well as a popular street food. These Korean rolls look like sushi — the filling is wrapped in rice and nori or kelp. However, their composition usually includes not raw, but prepared ingredients, such as fish, meat, vegetables, mushrooms, omelet, various smoked and pickled foods, as well as hot spices or sauces. In addition, due to the large amount of filling, the rolls are more voluminous and colorful. Today we want to share with you one of the variants of such a dish — we suggest cooking kimbap with tuna and vegetables together.

The ingredients for making Korean kimbap rolls

Before starting to understand the intricacies of how to cook kimbab, it is worth stocking up on the necessary ingredients. For one portion we will need:

• 180 g — boiled seasoned rice for sushi “Japonica” Katana;
• 1 pc. — Katana nori sheet;
• 20 g — carrots;
• 25 g — cucumber;
• 65 g — canned tuna;
• 20 g — lettuce leaves;
• 30 g — Katana “Classic” soy sauce (for fish and for serving);
• 1 tooth. — garlic;
• 1 fraction — sugar;
• 2 tbsp. — Katana sesame oil;
• 2 tsp. — Katana sesame;

Ground black pepper to taste.

The preparation steps

So, let’s start cooking kimbap together! The recipe is not very difficult, and with our tips, you will definitely succeed! The preparation of kimbab consists of the following stages:

1. Add sesame seeds to the finished rice and mix.
2. Remove the seeds from the cucumber to make it less watery and denser. Peel the carrots and grate them to prepare carrots in the Korean style, chop the other vegetables into thin, long strips.
3. Fry the tuna in sesame oil for two minutes over low heat. Add 1 tsp. soy sauce, a pinch of sugar, a crushed clove of garlic, a little ground black pepper and fry for another minute.
4. Let’s form kimbap in the same way as ordinary rolls — with the help of a bamboo mat. Place the nori sheet on the makisu with the rough side up and  spread the rice in an even layer, leaving 1-1.5 cm of free space from the top edge of the sheet for ease of wrapping. Spread the filling on top of the rice in strips.
5. Let’s wrap everything with the help of a bamboo mat in a tight roll, starting from the filled side. Wet the free side with water and fix it. Cut the resulting roll into 8-10 parts, wetting the knife with cold water. We recommend first putting the workpiece in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes — this way the roll will become denser and will not fall apart during cutting.
6. Let’s serve the finished dish with soy sauce.

Now you know how to cook kimbab and you can offer your friends and loved ones to try this Korean sushi as a dinner or a snack on a hike or picnic. Tender tuna is perfectly combined with crunchy vegetables, and spicy garlic perfectly emphasizes their taste and adds piquancy to the dish. Such an appetizer always turns out to be filling and tasty. In addition, it is perfect for those who want to try Asian food, but are worried about the quality of raw fish. Be sure to treat yourself to this unusual dish!