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Rolled Egg Side Dish Recipe, Spinach & Crab Meat
시금치 맛살 계란말이

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healthy
kid friendly
nut free
gluten free
vegetarian
prep time: 
10 min
inactive time: 
0 min
cooking time: 
20 min

Korean Rolled Egg Side Dish, or Gyeranmalyee, is a very quick and easy side dish that can make your dinner table beautiful and nutritious. It's also popular for lunch boxes both because of its presentation and because it still tastes good when served at room temperature. There are many variations to this dish. Try experimenting with your favorite ingredients! Check out the following variations:
Classic Style Rolled Eggs
Beautiful 3 Layer Rolled Eggs
Heart Shaped Rolled Eggs
Seaweed Rolled Eggs

You can buy Korean ingredients online here.

Korean Rolled Egg Side Dish, or Gyeranmalyee, is a very quick and easy side dish that can make your dinner table beautiful and nutritious. It's also popular for lunch boxes both because of its presentation and because it still tastes good when served at room temperature. There are many variations to this dish. Try experimenting with your favorite ingredients! Check out the following variations:
Classic Style Rolled Eggs
Beautiful 3 Layer Rolled Eggs
Heart Shaped Rolled Eggs
Seaweed Rolled Eggs

You can buy Korean ingredients online here.

Change serving size to: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Change to: Metric US
Egg 계란
¼ tspSalt 소금
2 ozSpinach 시금치
4 ozCrab Meat (Imitation) 맛살
¼ cupVegetable Oil 식용유
tips: 

Optional Ingredients and Substitutions
- Add 1 tsp of rice wine to get rid of eggy smell.
- You can use any other ingredients as filling. (e.g., ham, bacon, mushrooms, kimchi etc.) If the ingredient retains liquid, make sure you remove moisture from the ingredients before using it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I make the color bright yellow?
There are two different ways of cooking gyeranmalyee.
1. Use medium to high heat, which is quicker. The texture is fluffier but the color is lighter. Personally, I think this tastes better as a side dish that goes with rice.
2. Use low heat, which takes longer. It produces a flat and dense texture, and gives a bright yellow color for a nice presentation. To make it a really nice yellow, strain the egg mix through a fine strainer first. This method is better if you want to make hors d'oeuvres for your party.

I can't make it into a nice shape. What am I doing wrong?

1. You must use a good NON-STICK pan. Some Koreans use a rectangular pan specially designed for this dish. It's nice to have but not necessary.
2. Make sure your pan is coated with vegetable oil. If it starts to stick while cooking, pour more oil.
3. Use proper tools. Many Korean moms use one spatula and wooden cooking chopsticks when making this dish, or they use two spatulas. Figure out what tools help you maneuver the egg roll easily and quickly.
4. Don't panic if it gets torn. As long as you have some egg mixture left, you can fix tears by pouring a little bit of egg mixture and cooking on that side.
5. Practice makes perfect. As you try making this a few times, you will see your skills improving quickly. With practice, you will get to a place where you can make this in minutes.

How is this different from Tamago in Japanese restaurant?
Tamago, which you see in Japanese restaurants in North America, is usually bright yellow and it doesn't have other ingredient bits in the egg. It's most likely made using something like the second method. It is also sweeter. Koreans don't use sugar for their rolled egg side dishes.

More questions? Please leave your questions below in the comments section. We will do our best to answer as soon as we can.

instructions
photos
summary
Ingredient amounts in the recipe instructions are for the default serving size.
Click to enlarge photos.
Ingredient amounts in the recipe summary are for the default serving size.

1. Prepare ingredients

Tear 120 g of crab meat and chop finely.

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1

Chop

120g crab meat

2. Blanch spinach

Blanch 60 g of spinach in boiling water for 30 seconds, rinse in cold water and squeeze all the water out by hand.

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2

Blanch

in boiling water

image: clock.png 0.5 min

  • 60g spinach

Rinse

Squeeze water out

3. Make egg mixture

In a bowl, beat 5 eggs with ¼ tsp of salt and a pinch of pepper. You can also add 1 tsp of rice wine to get rid of eggy smell. Strain the mixture through a fine strainer to get pretty yellow color.

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3

Beat 5 eggs with

  • ¼ tsp salt
  • ⅛ tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp rice wine (optional)

Strain

4. Preheat a pan

Evenly coat a good non-stick pan with vegetable oil. Preheat on low heat for 1 min. We used a 10” pan for this recipe. If you are using a bigger pan, you may need to make more egg mixture.

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4

Coat pan with vegetable oil

Preheat

Low Heat image: lowheat.png image: clock.png 1 min

5. Start cooking

Pour some (about ⅓) of the egg mixture into the pan and spread it evenly by tilting the pan in a circular motion. Leave it for 1-2 min until the bottom is cooked but there is some uncooked egg on top.

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5

Pour ⅓ of mixture

Cook

Low Heat image: lowheat.png image: clock.png 1 min

6. Add spinach

Add a strip of spinach close to one edge (usually the right edge if you are right handed).

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6

Add spinach

7. Roll the egg

Roll the egg tightly starting from the same edge to cover the entire spinach strip. Move the whole thing to the right side of the pan. Then pour more mixture on the empty side of the pan, overlapping with the cooked side of the egg.

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7

Roll egg to cover spinach

Move to one side

Pour more mix

8. Add crab meat

Add a strip of chopped crab meat and roll the egg tightly to cover the crab meat strip.

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8

Add crab meat

Roll egg to cover crab meat

9. Cook remaining egg

Add more egg mixture and roll until the mixture runs out.

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9

Cook remaining egg

Low Heat image: lowheat.png

10. Cool it down

Place the rolled egg in a flat bamboo mat and roll the mat over and around. Gently squeeze around the outside to shape the roll. If you don’t have a bamboo mat, you can skip this. Let it cool down for at least 10 min.

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10

Roll the egg in bamboo mat

Shape

Cool down image: clock.png 10 min

11. Cut

Cut straight down at a 90 degree angle into ¾ inch pieces. If the roll hasn’t been cooled down, it won’t cut nicely.

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11

Cut

12. Serve

Serve on a plate. Enjoy.

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12

Serve & enjoy