Korean Rice Rolls (Kim Bap)
Kim Bap is a staple of Korean cuisine, and it’s basically like sushi but with different ingredients and no raw fish. I grew eating my mom’s kim bap, and this is her recipe!
My mom visited me last week, and when we weren’t out, we were at home cooking up a storm of good food.
My mom was so funny about the blog stuff…all along the way she exclaimed over and over again “TAKE PICTURE!!!” LOL.
For those of you who don’t know, my mom grew up in South Korea.
Being raised by a Korean mom and an American dad was a really cool experience and I feel blessed to have been exposed to Korean culture (especially since the food is amazing).
My mom not only knows how to make some incredible Korean dishes, but also did some short culinary school programs in Italy and France, so this lady really knows how to cook across the board.
This dish may look foreign to you (I mean, I guess it does sort of look like sushi, except there is no raw fish and the ingredients are different), but if you trust my taste in recipes and are looking to try something unusual, you should give it a try, because I would want this to be in my last meal on Earth.
It’s dang good, and a good example of something equaling more than the sum of its parts.
It may not seem like anything in here is all that special, but when you pair the right flavors and textures together, you get something magical.
This dish may look complicated, but it’s really just a series of little steps (sort of like mise en place) before you can roll all the good stuff up.
You cook up all the ingredients individually, and have them ready to go on a plate so you can roll it all up.
Start by covering a bamboo mat with a sheet of seaweed and a small layer of rice.
Notice the gentleness of my mom’s hands in this picture. She says not to smash the rice, but rather to gently spread it around with your fingertips. If you smash it, the rice will get gluey.
Smooth over the top of the rice with a spatula, with a gentle hand.
Then lay out all of your ingredients onto the rice, and start rolling.
Roll it up tightly. This will take some practice. It always needs to be tighter than you think to stay together.
And now it is ready to slice. Make sure you use a super sharp serrated knife, so you don’t have to smash the rolls. Try not to push down with any pressure, let the teeth of the knife saw the pieces off.
If you want to make inside out kim bap, after you’ve smoothed out the rice, flip it over, and put all the ingredients on the seaweed, then roll it up and slice.
Korean Kimbap Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 oz package of seaweed (nori)
- 2 cups white sushi rice
- 14 oz package mini cucumbers
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 4 medium carrots
- 5 extra large eggs lightly beaten
- 1 ripe avocado
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- olive oil for sauteing
For the bulgogi style beef:
- 1 lb top sirloin thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup chopped scallions green part only
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tbsp red wine
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- 1/3 of a kiwi chopped
Instructions
- Make the bulgogi beef by marinating the top sirloin with the scallions, garlic, red wine, soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds, and kiwi. The reason we add the kiwi is to tenderize the meat. This is a little trick that my mom uses for all her red meat. Let it marinate in the fridge for 2 hours, but no longer, because the kiwi will break down the meat too much.
- On to the rice. I have a ricer cooker, so I cooked the rice in there according to the rice cooker’s directions. If you don’t have one, you can also cook the rice in a saucepan, just cook it according to the directions on the rice package. Let the rice cook while we work on the other ingredients, and we’ll come back to it later.
- Cucumber time. Quarter them up and scrape the seeds out with a knife. Soak the cucumbers in the rice vinegar, and sprinkle them generously with salt on both sides. We are not only seasoning the cucumbers and drawing the moisture out, but we will use this liquid to season the rice later on.
- Blanch the spinach in salted boiling water for 15-30 seconds or so. Drain, and reserve. Spinach is done.
- Peel and quarter up the carrots, and saute them over medium high heat in 2 tbsp of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt until they are tender but still have some crunch, about 5 minutes. Remove the carrots, and cook the marinated beef in the same pan, being careful not to overcook the meat.
- In a nonstick pan, add 1 tbsp of olive oil, and cook the eggs until it firms up into a big egg pancake. Remove the egg pancake from the pan, and slice it vertically into long strips.
- Lastly, the avocado. Just cut it up into long strips and set aside.
- Pour the juices from the cucumber into the rice, and season the rice with 1 tbsp sesame oil and salt, to taste. When you have all your veggies and beef ready to go, it’s time to make the kim bap! There are special bamboo mats that are made for rolling up sushi and kim bap. They are cheap (this one is $2.99 and free shipping), and easy to find. Lay your seaweed out onto the mat, and spread your rice out evenly. Make sure not to handle the rice too much or it will get gluey.
- Smooth over the top of the rice with a spatula, with a gentle hand. Lay out all of your ingredients onto the rice, using 2 layers of carrots, and 1 for everything else. Make sure to roll it up as tightly as you can, then slice with a super sharp serrated knife.
- If you want to make inside out kim bap, after you’ve smoothed out the rice, flip it over, and put all the ingredients on the seaweed, then roll it up and slice.
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
48 Comments on “Korean Rice Rolls (Kim Bap)”
Hi Joanne,
I just graduated from college and finally trying to cook meals other than top ramen. I’ve been following your blog and looking at all your recipes to get me started. They look delicious and simple. Thanks for that! Also, I went to the grocery store today to try to find the top sirloin fillet to slice up, but they only have it pounded out, SUPER thin (like a cm thick) ones at the store. Would those be acceptable for the bulgogi recipe?
Hi Lesley! I see your email is UCSC, very cool, my brother goes there! Hm, a cm thick would probably be fine. You could also do like a strip steak or ribeye or something like that too if you wanted, it would just be a little more expensive. Just make sure if you do the really thin one that you’re careful not to overcook it, I think that’s the tricky thing about really thin cuts of meat. Let me know how it goes!
Thanks for your speedy reply! I’ll definitely let you know how it goes, as soon as I find the glass noodles! The regular grocery stores in Ventura don’t seem to carry them. I just moved out here; so I’m still trying to find a good Asian Market.
Mmm Your kimbap looks delicious! Love that you added meat… I love those… I am craving kimbap now.. Yum!
Thank you Sook! It’s what my mom has always done. I crave kimbap all the time too!
Thank you for this wonderful recipe. I look forward to giving it a try. My brother loves all Asian dishes, so I will make it when he comes to visit. 🙂
Oh, here is a link to a seaweed wrap alternative for some of the other followers that needed it: http://www.newgemfoods.com/shop-origami-wraps
Hi Ashlyn, thanks for sharing that link! Hope you enjoy the kim bap. It’s got many parts to it but it’s my favorite Korean dish!
hello, it’s nice to meet another korean american on foodbuzz. i love your reading and pictures, the food looks so yummy. will visit frequently! ^^
YAY!!!! It is nice, I’m so glad you stopped by to say hello. Do you have any specific korean dishes that you love?
Ok, quick question here…this looks great, and I’d like to try something new, but I’m not a huge fan of the seaweed wraps. Can I substitute them with anything else?
Thanks!
I’m not sure how well this would work since I’ve never tried, but you could try layering cucumber shavings or I know they sell soy wraps that are kind of like the consistency of edible paper…but I don’t know if those would taste good LOL. Does that help at all? I hope so!
I’ll give it a try, thanks for replying!
mmm it looks so generous with filling. I just came back from Seoul and the food has been great. I like making sushi but I often can’t roll them tight like this.. Gotta practice more eh.
These were great! I am not a big sushi fan bc of the fish factor, I just don’t like it, especially tuna. I was really excited to make a sushi-like food but with bulgogi (which is one of my top ten fave foods). Mine did not turn out nearly as neat as yours since my 3 year old was helping, but they sure did taste good. We dipped ours in tamari sauce mixed with a little grated ginger.
YAY!!! Thanks for letting me know Anna. That’s so cute you cooked with your three year old, I could see this being a really fun recipe to do with kids. Yeah I hear you about the sushi…I’ve gotten sick WAY too many times from reputable sushi places and really, I don’t miss it. Kim bap is way better! And kudos for knowing what bulgogi is <3
This is a real keeper for me. I was born in Singapore but my best friend is Korean. Her mommy used to make the most delicious kimbap. I think your recipe will let me re-create her beautiful masterpiece! Thank you sooo much for sharing.
The rolls are looking so good, simply loved all the colors of vegetables added to it. congrtas for top 9 !
My Mouth is totally watering! Congrats on Top 9!
Thank you for sharing this with photos! I lived in Bundang for a while teaching ESL but I never had a chance to make my own kim bap. It’s one of the foods I greatly miss since leaving!
Hi, I have a question – do you serve any sauce with the final rolls? These look amazing, thanks!
I don’t serve any sauce with the rolls…they are so good on their own! But if you try one let me know =)
Thanks for sharing. Such a well prepared and rolled out kim bap. Great job!
We invite you to share this post and some of your favorite food posts on Food Frenzy.
Please check out our community.
I couldn’t be more jealous that you know how to roll sushi that well, haha. I could live on sushi if someone asked me, and it would be awesome to make it at home! I’ll definitely be trying your recipe when I get the chance 🙂
LOL Well my mom was the one rolling the kim bap up…I think if I tried it wouldn’t look as good. She is an expert! You definitely have to roll it up tighter than you would originally expect, and one of those bamboo mats is a must!
I made that with my bf not too long ago! I like to dip the kim bap into the duk bokki sauce! its soo good!
OH MY Duk bokki is so good! This comment makes me SO happy!!! YAY Korean food!!!
mMMmmm my goodness, I can taste it! It looks amazing, and I want some like..now! lol
I want some now too. It’s all gone 🙁 LOL.