← Nouns Cooking · Korean

Ingredients

• 600 g warm cooked short-grain rice
• 1 tbsp Toasted sesame oil
• ½ tsp Salt
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• 2 sheets roasted seaweed (gim), crushed into flakes
• 150 g Tinned tuna, well drained
• 2 tbsp Mayonnaise
• 1 pinch Black pepper
• ½ Green chilli, finely chopped (optional)

Method

1. Mix the warm rice with the sesame oil, salt, sesame seeds and most of the seaweed flakes, using a spatula so the grains stay whole.
2. Mix the tuna with the mayonnaise, pepper and chilli.
3. With damp or gloved hands, flatten a handful of rice in your palm, put a spoonful of tuna in the centre and close the rice around it. Squeeze firmly into a ball.
4. Roll in the remaining seaweed flakes and serve, or wrap each ball in cling film for a lunchbox.

Tips

• Use freshly cooked rice that you cool quickly, keep the rice balls chilled and eat them within a day.
• For a vegetarian version, fill with chopped kimchi fried in sesame oil or seasoned mushrooms; check the mayo is egg-free if needed.

Sources

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

FutureDish Beyond Kimchee