[Sumi’s Side Dishes Recipe] Make a Picnic Lunch with Mini Gimbap—What’s the Secret to Delicious Gimbap?

A picnic lunch staple, gimbap varies in flavor and style depending on its fillings. Adding more ingredients makes it larger and more flavorful, but recently, smaller mini gimbap has become popular alongside the rise of Gwangjang Market’s mayak gimbap and Tongyeong-style Chungmu gimbap.

Here are the ingredients and steps for making mini gimbap, ideal for the Seoul Silver Grass Festival and preschool or elementary school picnic lunches.

One way to make delicious gimbap is to use a variety of fillings, such as seasoned shredded dried squid, bulgogi, minced pickles, and sausage. Mini gimbap does not contain many fillings, but a small selection can still deliver excellent flavor, so choose them according to your taste.

Seasoning the rice also brings out the flavor. Mix salt and sesame oil evenly into the rice, and the gimbap is already half done.

To make mini gimbap, you will need rice, sesame oil, sausage, pickled radish, cucumber, carrot, dried seaweed sheets, and cooking oil.

① Julienne the gimbap ham, pickled radish, cucumber, carrot, and other ingredients into long strips.

② Add cooking oil to a pan and lightly stir-fry the gimbap ham.

③ Lightly toast the dried seaweed sheets. Then spread rice seasoned with salt and sesame oil over about two-thirds of each sheet cut into quarters.

④ Place the gimbap fillings on top and roll using a bamboo gimbap mat. Lightly brush with sesame oil and finish with a sprinkle of whole sesame seeds.

Sumi’s Side Dishes Recipe: Mini Gimbap with Braised Beef and Burdock Root

On the 3rd, tvN’s “Sumi’s Side Dishes” demonstrated how to make mini gimbap with braised beef and burdock root.

① Beat the eggs and cook them in a frying pan, then finely chop the burdock root and beef from the braised beef and burdock root dish with a knife.

② Cut the dried seaweed sheets to an appropriate size.

③ Mix the egg, finely minced burdock root, and beef well so that they bind together.

④ Coat your hands generously with sesame oil and form rice-ball-shaped gimbap.

Familiar ingredients can also make excellent gimbap fillings. Seasoning the rice and preparing the sauce inside are the keys to making Spam-rolled gimbap.

① Cut the Spam into 0.5 cm-thick slices and cook them in a pan heated over medium heat.

② Halve the Cheongyang chili pepper, remove the seeds, and mince it finely. Cut the dried seaweed sheets into quarters.

③ Add 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise, 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce, and 1 tablespoon of gochujang to a bowl and mix well.

④ Place seasoned rice on a dried seaweed sheet and top with Spam. Spread the sauce over it and add the minced Cheongyang chili pepper. Roll it up tightly and serve on a plate.

[Fam Times = Reporter Kim Yu-rye]