Cooking in
Singapore
Korean · Korea
Kimbap
Kimbap (seaweed rice roll) is Korea's most popular picnic and convenience food — short-grain rice seasoned with sesame oil and salt, wrapped around fillings (spinach, carrot, egg, pickled radish, and meat) in a sheet of gim (dried seaweed), rolled and sliced. Kimbap is not sushi — the rice is warm and sesame-flavoured rather than cold and vinegared, and the fillings are cooked and seasoned rather than raw. It is everyday Korean food at its most practical.
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I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
400g
sushi rice
cooked, seasoned with rice vinegar, sugar, salt
Origin · United States
100g
pickled yellow radish (danmuji)
julienned
100g
cucumber
cut into matchsticks
Your own market
100g
cooked ham
julienned
Your own market
2
medium carrots
blanched 2 minutes, julienned
Your own market
100g
fresh spinach
blanched 1 minute, squeezed dry, seasoned with sesame oil and salt
Your own market
60g
cooked beef
shredded, marinated in soy sauce and sesame oil
Your own market
4
eggs
beaten, cooked as thin omelette, cut into strips
Your own market
8 sheets
nori (seaweed)
divided in half
2 tbsp
sesame oil
Your own market
2 tbsp
toasted sesame seeds
2 tbsp
soy sauce
II
The Method
1
Lay half-sheet nori shiny-side down on bamboo mat; spread 50g sushi rice evenly in thin layer.
2
Arrange one portion each of radish, cucumber, ham, carrot, spinach, beef, and egg in horizontal lines across rice centre.
3
Roll tightly using mat, sealing edge with few grains of rice; repeat with remaining ingredients and nori.
4
Brush exterior of each roll with sesame oil; slice into 6 equal pieces using wet, sharp knife.
5
Arrange seam-side down on serving plate; drizzle with soy sauce and sprinkle sesame seeds.
III
Sensory Tests
◇Where it lives or dies. The moment where kimbap lives or dies is the rice thickness — the rice should be spread to 1cm depth, no more. Thick rice makes the kimbap too large to eat comfortably in one bite and overwhelms the fillings. The fillings should form a bouquet in the centre that is surrounded by, but not buried in, rice. Lay them in one straight line; when the roll is completed and sliced, each round should show the fillings centred in a uniform rice ring.
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V
What to Pour
The pairing
Shochu
From Singapore
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Without alcohol
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The whole pairingPillar VI
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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The working kitchen