Gimbap Recipe 3: Tuna Gimbap

참치김밥

1. Prepare rice

Wash 3 cups of short grain rice twice and drain all the water. Add water (3 cups for electronic rice cooker or 4 cups for regular pot) to the rice and add 2 (2”X2”) pieces of kelp in the water. After 30 minutes, remove kelp but leave rice and water. Kelp water apparently prevents rice from drying up and helps rice stick to the seaweed better. But, you can omit kelp if you don’t have any.

Wash & drain

• 3 cups rice

Add 3 cups water (for rice cooker)

Soak 2 pieces kelp Remove minkelp

2. Cook rice

Cook rice. For detailed instructions, see how to cook rice in a rice cooker and how to cook rice in a pot .

Cook rice

3. Prepare perilla leaves

Thoroughly wash 24 perilla leaves under running water (4 leaves per roll, you can increase the number if you like perilla leaves). Drain water using a strainer and let it air-dry completely. If it’s still not dry when you are ready to roll a gimbap, pat-dry with a clean towel or paper towel.

Wash 24 perilla leaves

Air-dry or pat-dry

4. Prepare burdock root

Peel and rinse 2.5 oz (70 g) of burdock root. Cut into thin strips.

Peel & Rinse

• 2.5 oz (70g) burdock root

Cut into strips

5. Soak burdock root

Soak the burdock root strips in 1 cup water and 1 tbs vinegar for 30 minutes.

Soak burdock root

• 1 cup water
• 1 tbs vinegar

30 min

6. Blanch burdock root

Boil 2 cups of water. Blanch the burdock roots in boiling water for 3 minutes.

Boil 2 cups water

Blanch burdock root 3 min

7. Cut fish cake

Cut fish cake into ½” thick strips.

Cut fish cake

• ½” strips

8. Braise burdock root & fish cake

In a sauce pan, mix ¾ cup water, 6 tablespoons of soy sauce and 2½ tablespoons of sugar and add fish cake and burdock root in the pan. If you are cooking a larger amount, you probably want to cook fish cake and burdock root separately using the same seasoning. Cook uncovered on medium heat.

Mix

• ¾ cup water
• 6 tbs soy sauce
• 2½ tbs sugar

Add

• fish cake
• burdock root

Cook uncovered

Med Heat 7 min

9. Braise II

When the liquid is almost gone, add 2 teaspoons of mulyeot (Korean malt syrup) or jocheong (rice syrup). If you don’t have mulyeot, just add a little more sugar or sugar substitute.

Add

• 2 tsp mulyeot or jocheong

10. Prepare carrot

Peel and rinse a carrot. Cut 3.5oz (100g) of carrot (about ⅓ large Korean carrot) into long ¼” thick strips. If you are using smaller carrots, just cut into shorter strips. You will just have to add a few more when making a roll.

Peel & rinse

• 3.5oz (100g) carrot

Cut into

• long ¼” strips

11. Cook carrot

Preheat a pan with 1 tsp vegetable oil on medium heat. Sauté carrots on medium heat for 2 min or until they are cooked (not crunchy any more).”

Preheat pan

• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• Med Heat 1 min

Sauté carrots

Med Heat 2 min

12. Prepare eggs

Beat 3 eggs with an added pinch of salt and black pepper. Preheat a pan with 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil on medium heat for a min.

Pour the beat eggs and cook until all the eggs are fully cooked. Let it cool on the side.

Beat 3 eggs

• a pinch salt
• a pinch black pepper

Preheat pan

• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• Med Heat 1 min

13. Cut eggs

Once the eggs have cooled, cut into ½” thick strips.

Once cooled

Cut eggs

into ½” thick strips

14. Cut cucumber

Wash and peel cucumber, leaving some skin for color. Cut 4.4oz (125g) of cucumber into ¼” thick and 9” long strips. (You can use a few shorter ones instead if you don’t have a whole cucumber.) Don’t use the middle part containing seeds. (optional - you can sprinkle some salt on the cucumber strips and leave it for 10 min. Then, pat-dry to remove moisture.)

Wash & peel cucumber

Cut 4.4oz (125g)

into ½” thick strips

Sprinkle with salt

Leave 10 min

Pat-dry with paper towel

15. Cut danmuji

Rinse danmuji yellow pickled radish) with water. Pat-dry with paper towel. Cut 5oz (150g) of danmuji into ¼” thick strips.

Rinse danmuji

Pat-dry with paper towel

Cut 5oz (150g) danmuji

into ½” thick strips

16. Prepare tuna

Open 2 cans of tuna. Drain water or oil using a strainer.

2 cabs tuna

Drain water/oil

17. Season tuna

In a bowl, mix the drained tuna with 6 tablespoons of mayonnaise. You can vary the amount of mayonnaise to your preference.

Mix tuna

with 6 tbs mayonnaise

18. Roast seaweed (optional)

If the seaweed you got is not pre-roasted, you can roast in a pan. Roasting removes dampness and fishy smell from the seaweed. Cook each side of the seaweed in a pan on medium heat for a few seconds only. Do not over-cook. The seaweed will get crunchy and break apart. Do not use any oil.

(optional)

Cook each side seaweed

in a pan

Med Heat a few seconds

19. Season rice

Season cooked rice with 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Gently mix the rice with a spatula without squashing the rice. Mix it around until it’s cool enough to touch with bare hands. You want the rice to be a bit warm when you are making the roll.

Season rice

• 1 tbs sesame oi
• ¼ tsp salt

Gently mix

20. Spread rice on seaweed

Place the seaweed on a bamboo mat, rough side up. Thinly spread rice over the seaweed, leaving a very small area at the bottom (place this side close to yourself) and a larger area on top. The size of the larger area and the thickness of the rice layer can vary depending on how big you want the gimbap to be. See tips above for more details.

21. Add perilla leaves

Place 4-8 perilla leaves on top of rice.

Place

4-8 perilla leaves

22. Add ingredients

Place tuna mixed with mayo on top of perilla leaves. Add all other ingredients in the center. If the ingredients are shorter than the length of the seaweed, place a few to ensure the pieces are overlapping at the ends.

Place all ingredients

in the center

23. Roll I

Tightly roll the seaweed so that the end close to you meets the other end of the rice layer, using your fingers to secure the ingredients. Do not roll all the way. Gently squeeze along the roll a few times.

Roll the seaweed

(two ends of the rice layer meet)

Gently squeeze

24. Roll II

Bring the whole roll up to the end of the bamboo mat. This time roll all the way. Gently squeeze along the roll a few times.

Roll to the end of the mat

Roll all the way

25. Coat with sesame oil

Using your hand or a brush, lightly coat the roll with sesame oil.

26. Cut

Prepare a clean sharp knife and a clean wet towel. Wipe both sides of the knife with the wet towel. Start cutting the roll into ½” thick sections. Do not press down too hard with the knife as the roll will be crushed. Use front and back motion repeatedly when cutting just like cutting bread.

27. Slice danmuji

Slice danmuji (yellow pickled radish) into ⅛” thick half moon shape to serve it on the side with gimbap.

Slice danmuji

⅛” thick half moon shape

28. Serve

Arrange on a plate or in a lunch box. Serve with Danmuji on the side. Enjoy!

Serve on a plate

with danmuji on the side