← Nouns Cooking · Korean

Ingredients

• 400 g short-grain rice (uncooked)
• 1½ tbsp Toasted sesame oil
• ½ tsp Salt
• 2 cans tuna (about 150 g each), drained very well
• 4 tbsp Mayonnaise
• Black pepper
• 5 sheets gimbap seaweed (gim)
• 10 perilla or lettuce leaves
• 5 pickled radish strips
• 5 Crab sticks (kanikama) (optional)
• 1 Cucumber, seeded and cut into long sticks
• 1 Carrot, cut into matchsticks
• 3 Eggs, beaten with a pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp Vegetable oil

Method

1. Cook the rice with about 460 ml water (or in a rice cooker). While it is still warm, mix in the sesame oil and salt and spread it out to cool to body temperature.
2. Squeeze the tuna as dry as you can and mix it with the mayonnaise and pepper.
3. Fry the eggs in a thin layer in a lightly oiled pan for 2–3 min, flip, then cut into long strips. Stir-fry the carrot with a pinch of salt for 1 minute.
4. Lay a seaweed sheet shiny side down on a bamboo mat. Spread a thin layer of rice over it, leaving 3 cm bare at the top. Lay two perilla leaves across the middle, spoon tuna onto them, then add the radish, egg, carrot, cucumber and crab stick.
5. Roll up tightly, pressing as you go, and seal the edge with a few grains of rice. Brush the outside with a little sesame oil. Repeat with the rest.
6. Slice each roll into 1.5 cm rounds with a sharp knife wiped with a damp cloth between cuts.

Tips

• Eat gimbap the same day and don’t leave it out for more than 2 hours, especially with mayo; chilled rice turns hard, so it isn’t a fridge food.
• The perilla leaves stop the tuna mayo making the rice soggy, so don’t skip them.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Korean Bapsang Aaron and Claire FutureDish