Introducing Korean Gimbap!

Look like sushi, but seeing as we used Korean ingredients, I thought I'd give gimbap it's dues.  Gimbap is Korean sushi, using egg, fish, pickles, and veggies as fillings.  Korean food is unheard of in a lot of American cities.  If I had to describe it, I'd say it has bolder, brighter flavors next to Japanese food's woodier, salty flavors.

This was May's birthday gimbap.  We went to see Jiro Dreams of Sushi.  If I had to pick a movie that sums up macrobiotic cheffing and philosophy in a nutshell, it'd be that one.  Amazing.

gimbap 

two // ways

/kimchi gimbap

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- 1 cup korean kimchi

- brown rice vinegar

- 3 cups brown rice/sushi rice, uncooked

- 5 to 7 sheets nori seaweed

- 1 cucumber

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Cook rice with 3 1/4 c. water.  When rice is sticky and soft, mix 1 tbsp. brown rice vinegar with rice, fluffing amply.

Prepare a small bowl of cold water.

Lay nori on sushi mat, shiny-side down.  Layer rice on nori, leaving a half-inch border on each side.  To flatten rice (oreo-thickness is idea), use the bowl of cold water to keep wetting your hands so the rice doesn't stick to them.

Slice cucumber in half long-ways, scooping out all seeds with a spoon.  Make long, pencil-thick slices down the stem so that you have strips that are about 1/2" by 6".  Lay two strips on your rice and seaweed, keeping the strips the same direction as the bamboo on the mat.  Lay about 6-7 pieces of kimchi veggies along the cucumber, squeeze, and roll your gimbap.

To slice, dip the edge of your knife in your bowl of cold water.  Move your knife quickly across the center of the sushi.  The key to nice, round, non-squashed sushi is moving quickly and lightly, applying as little pressure as possible.

\sweet shiitake gimbap

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- brown rice vinegar

- 3 cups brown rice/sushi rice, uncooked

- 5 to 7 sheets nori seaweed

- 1 1/2 tbsp. gluten-free Tamari

- 3 tbsp. brown rice syrup

- 1 tsp. kuzu dissolved in cold water

- 6-7 shiitake mushrooms, dried or fresh

- 5 whole scallions

- 2 raw carrots

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Cook rice with 3 1/4 c. water.  When rice is sticky and soft, mix 1 tbsp. brown rice vinegar with rice, fluffing amply.

Prepare a small bowl of cold water.

Lay nori on sushi mat, shiny-side down.  Layer rice on nori, leaving a half-inch border on each side.  To flatten rice (oreo-thickness is idea), use the bowl of cold water to keep wetting your hands so the rice doesn't stick to them.

Prepare mushrooms.  Slice into THIN strips, as thin as you can get, removing the stem from the get-go and composting it/using it for stock.  Pan-fry in sesame oil for 1-2 minutes, until some water is released.  Whisk kuzu, syrup, and tamari in a separate bowl, and pour over mushrooms, simmering until sauce thickens and glistens like melting ice.

Remove bottoms and top inch from scallions and separate extra leaves.  You should end up with the long stem (about 6-7 inches) and if you're lucky, a couple extra scallion leaves about 4-5 inches each.  Cut carrots into 6-7 inch strips, about the length and width of a pencil.  Place 1-2 scallions, 1-2 carrot strips, and a healthy couple spoonfuls of shiitake on the gimbap and roll!