Dear Vi,
Ahh, I’ve been on such a Korean drama kick ever since you told me about Crash Landing on You – such a good romantic comedy! Itaewon Class was only okay. I expected way more cooking and restaurant behind-the-scenes so was let down when it was more about revenge and justice. Then we watched Kingdom and whoa, when is season 3 coming out?! Sad that we could relate a zombie outbreak to a COVID-19 outbreak and how selfish people can become. Because of the zombie content, Howard insisted that I watch Train to Busan after. But then, I was like, I need romantic comedy back in my life!!! Luckily The King: Eternal Monarch satisfied that.
We have ordered in bb.q Chicken and The Alley more than I want to admit after watching the dramas and seeing their product placements. The cravings are real!
I’ve been craving kimbap a lot, maybe because it’s summer time and it’s not a steaming hot bowl of food. It’s a nice “cold” dish to have for lunch sometimes.
Kimbap / Gimbap
Essentials:
Rice
Sesame oil
Seaweed sheets
- Wash the rice and cook it in your rice cooker.
- When the rice is done, add some sesame oil in it and mix well.
- Get your sheets of seaweed ready.
Fillings I used:
Carrot
Cucumber
Danmuji
Eggs
Mushrooms
Beef bulgogi
- Cut the carrot, cucumber, and danmuji into long strips. Set aside.
- Scramble the eggs and then fry them so that you have a large sheet of eggs (like an omelette with no fillings). Cut them into strips. Set aside.
- Slice the mushrooms and cook them in high heat with some olive oil, salt, and pepper. Cool and set aside.
- In the same pan that you used for the eggs and mushrooms, it’s time to cook the slices of beef bulgogi. Cool and set aside.
- Using your rice paddle (you may recognize the one in the photo as the one you got me), spread a thin layer of rice over the sheet of seaweed.
- Add your filling and then carefully roll it up.
Other filling options:
Burdock root
Crab meat
Fish eggs
Ground pork
Kimchi
Perilla leaves
Spam
Spinach, blanched
Tuna
- Of course, the wonderful thing is that you can put in whatever filling you want. In whatever quantity you like!
- You can make yours vegetarian, vegan, or very much for the meat lover.
Once you have your fillings rolled tightly in the rice and seaweed, brush the outside with a light coating of sesame oil.
Slice the roll so that each piece is about 2 centimetres thick. That’s it, ready to eat!
And if you have leftovers, you can make some bibimbap! Fill the base of the bowl with rice. Top it with a sunny-side-up egg. And then add the meat and vegetables by arranging them around the bowl. Sprinkle with seaweed and sesame seeds. Don’t forget the sauce!
Bibimbap Sauce
½ cup gochujang
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- Whisk all the ingredients together.
- You’re also supposed to add 1 tablespoon of lemon-lime soda, but I didn’t have any on hand so my sauce is a little thicker than it should be.
- Mix all the ingredients in the bowl with the sauce and enjoy.
There! Ready for another drama to binge . . .
Sincerely,
Syl
Sincerely, Syl 