Gimbap is referred to often as Korean sushi roll, but it is soooo far from it. It has no raw fish nor vinegar – it has fully cooked meat, a bunch of different vegetables, and sweet pickled radish. Every Korean household has their own way of making it. Some people put in ham, spinach, burdock root, crab meat, etc.
This version is the one my own mama taught me. If you’ve read any of my life blogs or have seen some of my forgotten videos somewhere on the Internet, you may have come across the fact that my mom HATES cooking. I started cooking in middle school because of the fact that my mom rarely cooked and I needed to eat something.
But deep in my memories, I remember my mom used to make gimbap – a shit load of gimbap. It was back when I was in elementary school. And that’s the recipe I ended up learning. But why would someone who hates the kitchen make so much gimbap, you ask? I learned this as I got older, but my family struggled financially really bad after we immigrated to America. My parents still say it was a miracle we had a roof over our heads. We were hit hard during the 2008 financial crisis, and my dad was also scammed by some relatives. He was going to work everyday, but had absolutely no money for rent or food. So that’s when my mom started making and selling gimbap to the Korean American community.
Gimbap is one of those foods that are so classic and traditional, yet people don’t really make it because it takes too long. Each ingredient has to be prepared separately and it is very labor-intensive. We Koreans just end up buying it at the pre-made food corner at the Asian supermarket. My mom therefore took on the role as the gimbap-maker for the Koreans in LA. She would stay up rolling 100 gimbap rolls to cater for church or sell gimbap to people who needed lunch everyday.
Now that that time has thankfully passed, my mom rarely makes gimbap now. And I never want to ask her to make it for me since it holds so much burden of the past. But her gimbap was really freaking good so I asked her details of every step she used to take in making it and recreated it.
Here is my mom’s legacy and gift to me:
- Rice Ingredients:
- 6 cups cooked rice
- 2 Tablespoons sesame oil
- 1 tsp salt
- Bulgogi Ingredients:
- 1 pound thinly sliced beef tenderloin or sirloin
- 6 Tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon plum syrup
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons mirin
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- Carrot Ingredients:
- 1 large carrot
- sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- salt to taste
- Egg Ingredients:
- 5 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Gimbap Ingredients:
- 6 gimbap seaweed sheets
- prepared rice
- prepared bulgogi
- prepared carrot
- prepared egg
- 3 cucumbers
- 1 jalapeño
- pickled radish (store bought)
- sliced kimchi (optional)
- Rice Recipe:
- mix all the ingredients together!
- Bulgogi Recipe:
- mix all the ingredients together
- let the meat marinate for about 30 minutes in the fridge
- stir-fry on hight heat until done, and roughly chop it up
- Carrot Recipe:
- use a grater to shred the carrot
- heat up sesame oil and garlic in a pan on low heat
- add the shredded carrots and salt
- stir-fry until carrots are tender
- Egg Recipe:
- whisk the eggs and salt until completely homogenous
- lightly oil a pan and put it on low heat
- pour in the egg and cover with the lid
- when you see the edges cooking, flip it over
- cook until done and remove onto a cutting board
- slice it into 1/2 inch – 1 inch thick pieces
- Gimbap Recipe:
- thinly slice the cucumber
- deseed the jalapeño and also thinly slice
- lay down a gimbap roller on a cutting board
- spread out the rice into a thin layer, covering every edge and corner
- lay down a row of every ingredient – bulgogi, carrot, egg, cucumber, jalapeño, radish, and kimchi
- use the gimbap roller to roll the gimbap up tightly and press until you’re sure it won’t unravel!
- place it seam side down and let it sit for about 5 minutes so that it stays completely sealed
- slice into about 10 pieces for each roll, including the end pieces! (the end pieces are the best!)
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