Kimbap (Korean Rice Rolls) Recipe

Kimbap is one of Mr He’s favorite Korean foods! 

These Korean Seaweed Rice Rolls (Kimbap or gimbap) are made from freshly cooked rice seasoned with salt and sesame oil, filled with a variety of healthy and flavorful ingredients, and tightly rolled in a sheet of sushi nori. 

Besides ingredients we are familiar with – such as egg skins, spinaches, sausage (or beef) – Danmuji (Korean Pickled Radish) is also an important filling ingredient in kimbap. 

Check out my Korean Pickled Radish recipe blog here!

Kimbap v.s. Sushi

You may wonder what are different between kimbap and sushi since they share many similar elements – rice with other ingredients rolled in dried seaweed.

But there are a few key differences!

First of all, kimbap is from Korea and sushi is from Japan.

Secondly, kimbap usually uses cooked protein, such as beef, pork, or chicken. However, sushi often uses seafood, such as shrimp and all kinds of fishes – they could be raw or cooked, depending on the ingredients. Kimbap would not use raw fish as protein!

Kimbap also uses cooked vegies or pickled vegies (such as my home-made pickled radish and kimchi!), while sushi doesn’t often contain vegetables (Japanese restaurants in U.S. use seaweed salad or cooked asparagus in some rolls but I’m not certain if this is truly authentic in Japan).

Curious how I made my kimchi? Here is the link to the blog!

Last but not least, rice in kimbap adds sesame seeds and sesame oil, while rice in sushi adds rice vinegar.

Kimbap Rolling Tricks

Traditionally, kimbap is rolled using a bamboo rolling mat. But if you don’t have one, that’s where creativity kicks in – for example, if you are a fan of potato chips, you could utilize the plastic drawer from the potato chip tube to do the rolling easily!

Maybe you don’t have any tool that could assist with rolling or don’t even have any dried seaweed (sushi nori), that’s totally fine – you could try just rolling everything inside some vegies such as lettuce!

(In fact, Korean BBQ also utilizes lettuce to wrap meat, vegies, and sauce inside.)

Vegan & Low carb Options for kimbap

If you look for a vegan option for kimbap, simply replace any protein with cooked tofu and keep the vegies, it will still be a decent combination of nutrition!

Since Mr He has been trying to eat on a low carb diet, though he has 5 treat meals every week (just kidding haha), I usually only put half amount of the rice in his kimbap.

You can also skip the second layer of rice, and substitute it with more vegetables or proteins to make your gimbap healthier.

Just make sure to press every layer of the ingredients firmly, so that the rice rolls won’t fell apart when you cut it. 

How to Make Kimbap

EQUIPMENT

• 1 Non-Stick Frying Pan

• 1 Plastic drawer from a potato chip tube (Or you can use a bamboo sushi rolling mat)

• Plastic Food Wrap

INGREDIENTS

– Rice

• 4 cup of Freshly cooked rice (I cooked 2 cups of rice with 1¼ cup of water with my rice cooker. Follow your rice cooker’s instructions.)
• 2 tbsp Sesame oil
• 1 tbsp Sesame seeds (optional but highly recommended)
• 1/2 tsp Salt

– Other Ingredients

• 6 sheets Sushi nori
• 2 Eggs
• 2 Medium-size carrots, shredded or finely sliced (about 1½ cup shredded carrots)
• 4 handful of Baby spinach (about 100g; or you can use the same amount of adult spinach instead)
• 6 strips of Korean pickled radish (danmuji)
• 2 Sausage (or you can use bacon, ham, fried beef, or fried frim tofu instead)
• Cooking oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder (or fresh minced garlic)
• Kewpie mayo

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Crack and beat 2 eggs. Spray oil on a heated pan. Pour the eggs into the pan. Tilt the pan slightly to spread the egg mixture evenly. Cook the egg over medium low heat until fully cooked.

2. Place the egg on a cutting board and cut it into ½ inch wide strips. Set aside.

3. Spray oil on a heated pan, pan fry 1½ cup carrot shreds until soft. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder to your taste. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

4. Spray oil on a heated pan, lightly pan fry 3 handfuls of baby spinach until shrink. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder to your taste. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

5. Cut sausages or fully cooked bacons into ½ inch wide strips. Set aside.

6. Mix in ½ tsp salt, 2 tbsp sesame oil, and 1 tbsp baked sesame seeds (optional) in freshly cooked rice. Set aside.

7. Take a plastic drawer from a potato chip tube. Place a sheet of food wrap on the drawer. Place a sheet of sushi nori on the food wrap, with the rough side facing up.

8. Put a layer of rice on the sushi nori, spread it evenly, press it tightly with a spoon.

9. Place a sausage strip, some carrots, a pickled radish strip, egg strips, and some baby spinach over rice.

10. Put another layer of rice on the top, spread it evenly, press it tightly with a spoon

11. Fold the edges of the sushi nori to seal up the kimbap. Apply a little bit of water on the edge so that it turns sticky and seals well.

12. Take the kimbap roll out of the chip drawer.

13. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.

14. Remove food wrap from each roll. Cut each roll into 6 to 7 bite-size pieces.

15. Serve with Kewpie mayo.

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