Tuna Kimbap Korean Food

Main Ingredients

• 8 Sheets Dried Laver for Kimbap or Sushi
• 1 Cup (6 oz) Canned Tuna (2 Tbsp Mayonnaise + 2 Pinches Black Pepper)
• 4 Eggs (4 Pinches Salt)
• 8 Strips Crab Sticks
• 8 Perilla Leaves
• 8 Strips Yellow Pickled Radish
• 1 Cup Carrot (⅛ tsp Salt + Some Cooking Oil)
• 4 Slices American Cheese (Optional)

For the Spinach

• 6 oz Spinach
• 6 Cups Water + ½ tsp Salt
• ½ tsp Garlic, Minced
• ½ tsp Sesame Oil
• ⅛ tsp Salt

For the Rice

• 5 Cups Cooked Short Grain Rice
• ½ tsp Salt
• 1 Tbsp Sesame Oil
• 1 Tbsp Sesame Seeds

Directions

 

Break 4 eggs in a small bowl and add 4 pinches of salt. Whisk well.

 

Preheat an 8-inch nonstick pan with some oil. Pour the egg into the heated pan. Cook for about 5 minutes on medium.

 

When the surface of the egg starts to become cooked, flip the egg and cook for 2-3 more minutes, or until the egg is completely cooked.

 

Cool down the egg on a cutting board a little and then cut it into ½-inch strips. I like my egg a little thick.

 

While you are cooking the egg, boil about 6 cups of water with ½ tsp of salt.

 

Add 6 oz of spinach into the boiling water and cook for 30 seconds on medium-high. It is important not to over cook the spinach, or you will lose too much of its nutrition and green color. If you use baby spinach, turn off the boiling water right after you add the spinach. Stir the spinach for about 5 seconds.

 

After the spinach is done cooking, rinse it in cold water right away two times. Squeeze out the water. You will get about 1 cup of cooked spinach.

 

Mix the spinach, ½ tsp of minced garlic, ½ tsp of sesame oil, and ⅛ tsp of salt in a mixing bowl.

 

Cut 1 cup worth of carrot in very thin strips.

 

Fry the carrot in a heated pan with little bit of oil and ⅛ tsp of salt for about 3 minutes on medium-high.

 

Add 1 cup of canned tuna, 2 Tbsp of mayonnaise, and 2 pinches black pepper in a bowl. Drain any oil or water from tuna before using it.

 

Mix it well.

 

Wash 8 perilla leaves carefully and wipe away the water from them. Remove the stems and then tear them in half. You will need 1 perilla leaf per 1 roll of kimbap.

 

Cut some yellow pickled radish into strips the same length as the dried laver and about a ⅓-inch thickness.

 

Obtain 8 crab sticks. Korean crab sticks are longer and thinner than American crab sticks. You can find them in a Korean or Asian grocery store. Depending on your tastes, you can use one stick per roll or you can divide each stick in half.

 

Obtain 4 slices of American cheese. Divide each slice into 4 strips. We will use 2 strips for 1 kimbap roll. It is optional, although I personally think the cheese is a great match with the tuna and perilla leaves.

 

Combine all the ingredients for the rice: 5 cups of cooked short grain rice, 1 Tbsp of sesame oil, 1 Tbsp of sesame seeds, and ½ tsp of salt. Mix everything gently.

 

Place 1 sheet of dried laver on top of a bamboo mat, shiny side down. Spread about ½ generous cup of rice over ⅔ of the top of the laver.

 

Place 2 perilla leaf halves on top of rice at the end. Then place 2 pieces of cheese on top of the perilla.

 

Put some tuna on top of the cheese – about the same width as the cheese.

 

Put 1 crab stick, some spinach, and some carrot next to tuna.

 

Put 1 strip of egg and 1 strip of pickled radish on top of crab stick and spinach.

 

Roll up the kimbap. Put some pieces of rice along the end of the laver. This will help to seal the kimbap tightly.

 

Finish rolling with your hands – without the bamboo mat. Put the rolled kimbap back in the bamboo mat again. Squeeze the bamboo mat evenly to help the kimbap stick together and stay firm.

 

Slice the kimbap.