김밥 (Kimbop/Korean Sushi)

If you've never had sushi and are put off by the fact that it has raw fish in it, you really need to expand your mind.  First off, not all sushi has raw fish.  In fact, the term "sushi" in Japanese actually means "rice wrapped with seaweed."
The cooked variety are what I call "starter sushi."  They are characterized by the "California Roll," which consists of cucumber, imitation crab meat and avocado.  There are also other varieties of cooked sushi including the "Philadelphia Roll," which is basically the California Roll with cream cheese.  Kimbop is a Korean sushi.

I learned the technique to make this from my Korean instructor.  She would probably be mad that this blog is written in English and not Korean, but honestly, I can't type very quickly in Korean and am not entirely sure of all the vocabulary.  Not to mention most of my audience does not speak Korean so let's just stick to English.

Most of the ingredients can be bought at an Asian Market or a local grocery store.  If you check your home store's Asian food isle and can't find what you need, check a Korean Market.

Ingredients:
Seaweed wraps
Cooked White Rice (Need sushi rice. Uncle Ben's will not be your best bet in this case. Ours was also seasoned with rice vingar, a sprinkle of garlic powder, and a sprinkle of cumin. You can season yours or choose not to.)
Various Filler Ingredients
Sesame Seeds (Optional)

All of your filler ingredients will need to be sliced in long thin slices before making the rolls. Some might need to be cooked before hand as well. Here's what I used in mine:

Carrots (Were cooked with oil, garlic powder, onion powder and black pepper.)
Pickled Radish (Very Korean.)
Egg (Beat the egg and then make it into an omlettey-pancake, then slice.)
SPAM (Should be cooked beforehand then sliced into appropriate size.)
Cucumber
Imitation crab meat
Avocado (Will be sliced up as added to rolls)

First, lay out your seaweed on a dry surface.  Then spread rice over the seaweed in a thin layer. The seaweed should be sticky, so be careful not to tear seaweed wrap.





Next, lay ingredients in the middle of rice in a line. This shows a step-by-step of what it will look like:

First I lay the egg and radish.

Followed by the cucumber, SPAM,
imitation crab, carrots etc.

Then add the sliced avocado.

Ready to roll.

After you get all your ingredients laid out, carefully roll the kimbop like so:

Grab the seaweed and pull it across.

Be sure to get everything in.

Tuck under and complete roll. 

Finished product before cutting

Once you get them all rolled, you can slice them into the beautiful little tires that we all know and love to be sushi. Or you can just eat it as is, which is perfect for on-the-go snacking!





However, if you want to slice, you will first want to lay it with the seaweed seam down.  Then carefully, in a sawing motion, cut through completely into 1 inch slices.

Once sliced, you can top with the sesame seeds.  The ends make pretty flower-like additions to your kimbop sculpture so I set them on top. Unless of course, they fall apart, in which case, I eat them right away.  (I can't have the other kimbop pieces being mean them because they look different!)



Did you see my purple Relay for Life support bracelet? Not an intentional plug, but since it's in there, might as well drop this right here. ;)

Obviously, I did not come up with this idea but I was asked how to make it, hence the reason for this blog. I hope it helps you all on your cooking experiments in the future!  Let me know if I left any steps out.