Easy Kimbap - 김밥

The weather has been one fickle lady. Ear numbing cold one day, hot booty shorts weather the next. I just want to go on a picnic by the river, but I don't want to have my teeth chattering louder than my talking. I can't wait for it to be 80 degree weather! Is that around 25 celsius? I still can't use Fahrenheit, BECAUSE IT DOENS'T MAKE SENSE. Like foot, inches and yards. Whaa???

Anyway, one of my favorite picnic foods is kimbap. All kinds of things wrapped up in an easy to eat morsel. It's actually super easy to make, maybe a little bit more prep time. But once you have your mis en place (oh fancy words), rolling it up is a breeze! If you want more detailed instructions, you can take a look at my old blog, MD cooks for 2. (A truly embarrassing old blog)

Kimbap - 김밥

makes 6 rolls ~3-4 servings

2 cups of uncooked rice
3 eggs
1 pack of yellow picked radish
1 pack of picked burdock (or you can use a cucumber for crunch)
3 medium carrots
1 bundle of fresh spinach
1 pack of ham (or any meat or no meat if you're keeping it veg)
6 sheets of nori (sushi seaweed is different from small packs of seaweed, make sure you get the right one!)

sesame oil
salt and pepper
sesame seeds

1. Wash and cook rice as directed on the package in your rice cooker. You want to use freshly made rice for this. Once cooked and cooled to room temp, add 2 tsp sesame oil and 1 tbsp sesame seeds and fluff up the rice with a paddle. Don't mush or overwork it though.
2. Peel and julienne carrots and cucumber (if using that instead of the burdock root. but don't peel the cucumber!). Cut your ham into thin long strips 
3. Bring to boil about 2-3 cups of water in a saucepan. Add a pinch of salt (this makes spinach greener when blanching). Blanch the spinach for about 1 min, rinse with cold water and squeeze out all the water. Season with a pinch of salt and 1-2 tsp of sesame oil
4. Heat about 1 tbsp mix of olive oil and sesame oil. Fry your julienned carrots for about 1 min, salt to taste, set aside. Next fry up the ham just to heat through.
5. Beat the eggs with a pinch of salt, and pour onto an oiled non stick frying pan on low-med heat. Let it cook until it looks partially done on one side and flip to cook the other side. Cut into 1/4" strips
6. Assembly: On a sheet of seaweed placed on a sushi mat, add a thin layer of rice and leave about 1 cm at the top. Line up each prepared ingredients in the middle (look at the picture above). Roll the kimbap to tuck in all the filling (away from you) and quickly roll it to let the rice stick on the seaweed. Using the sushi mat, knead lightly and roll a little to keep the kimbap in place. Repeat until out of ingredients.
7. To serve, oil your hands with sesame oil and run along the roll of kimbap. Cut to 1/2" with a sharp knife. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top for garnish