I suddenly felt like making sushi but couldn't find fish of suitable quality. So I spontaneously made kimbap(?)
r/sushi just banned me and banned me from entering Japan.. Maybe now Korea too?
Note: I'm European and seem to be attacking all culinary culture these days because I only briefly mention sushi and kimbap in the same sentence.
Whatever… Maybe you'll take me apart now too.
Rolls:
Bulgogi beef, carrots, herbs, avocado.
Bulgogi tofu, spring onions, parsley, cilantro.
Shrimp steamed with butter, soy sauce, and avocado.
Everything made at home.
Sorry if I offend any more cultures. I just like stuffed rice rolls. 🥲
by AvailableCampaign762
19 Comments
Haha I saw your posts one above another on my feed
As long as it has Gim and Bap, you can put whatever the hell you want in it!
A little on the fusion side but I would try it.
Yup!
Growing it was usually hot dogs in gimbap lol so bulgigi is a nice upgrade
ingredients are weird but you put anything you like, we will not call police because someone on other side of the planet cook something.
The only offensive thing here is the cilantro. I prefer my gimbap soap free.
😜 But that may just be me and my cilantro hating genes at work.
It’s fusion kimbap. It’s not traditional ingredients, but there are so many different kimbap variations in Korea that I don’t think it matters.
If you’re making it again, I would do a couple of things differently. First, I’d drastically reduce the rice ratio. You need about half the amount of rice. It’ll make for better balance in both taste and appearance.
The second thing I would do is make sure that your ingredients don’t have moisture on them. There are clearly some that have been made in some kind of sauce or brine that bleeds into the rice. If you can, try to surround them in other ingredients that will protect the rice from their moisture.
The last thing I would personally do is try to achieve a balance in flavors and textures. I love danmuji in kimbap because it gives both a sweet and acidic punch with a crunchy texture. Your carrots look like they might’ve been pickled, which would absolutely work to achieve a sweet and acidic flavor. I also like the freshness of cucumbers and the earthiness of spinach namul. Maybe that would work with your tofu kimbap. Then again, the filling is completely your preference, especially when making fusion kimbap. Gotta put what you like in it, right?
Needs some sesame oil but yeah this is kimbap
You made some beautiful scrumptious looking rolls there friend. Don’t let the gatekeeping get to you, it’s human nature. I love the variety and combinations of ingredients you chose. Very inspiring! Just glad it’s not one of those giant futomaki- chewing a roll shouldn’t be a struggle.😭
They look well made. If you substitute the parsley/cilantro with perilla leaf, you have a home run in my opinion.
Fusion kimbap but they look absolutely delicious!!!
If you want a more “authentic” take, plenty of comments here have really good suggestions when it comes to ingredients and flavor pairings. Also sesame oil, it brings everything together. But they look really good already and I would totally devour a whole tray of them !
Kimbap can have just about anything in it as long as you fulfill the requirements of rice and seaweed. It doesn’t even technically have to be a roll! (But you might open up a sandwich alignment chart debate)
Repost this in r/Japanesefood and call it onigiri if you wanna cause some chaos.
As to why r/sushi banned you, did you explain how you prepared the rice? Technically “sushi” is defined by the rice being prepared with vinegar, sugar and salt. I think futo maki (seaweed rolls) has quite a bit of flexibility with what you can put in them, but the rice needs to be prepared that way to be considered “sushi.”
Whereas kimbap usually has toasted sesame oil.
Your house your rules.
Growing up, my mother (Korean) would make kimbap for us whenever we went on road trips, picnics, etc. She always and only made it with bulgogi marinated beef, really thinly sliced, egg, yellow pickled daikon radish, carrots, and boiled and well drained spinach. She never put cilantro, avocado, shrimp, etc.
My house my rules, I make it the same as my mom, but I will sometimes add thinly sliced cucumber (no seeds).
Dipping sauce she made was soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds, garlic, red chili pepper flakes and green onion. I make mine significantly different, adding rice wine vinegar, a bit of water, as well as cilantro along with the green onion. I still call it Korean.
It’s a relatively new invention even in Korea. Feel free to wild!
kimbap comes from sushi rolls. It used to be seasoned with vinegar like sushi rice. It’s an evolutionary decendant. It’s not that big of a deal, a thing you make can be classified as gimbap or sushi as long as the basic requirements are met.
Looks great and who cares what people who don’t know what they’re talking about on reddit are saying.
lmao i saw ur post on that sub and it was still new new. i’m like oh boy this is gonna be fun to read 🍿
i mean i saw the photos and i could tell this was kimbap before reading what subreddit the post was in or any details of the post, so i would say you did kimbap pretty well! the ire you faced is probably just due to where you started. in my experience, korean food enjoyers are less uptight about the differences between kimbap and sushi than japanese food enjoyers, though it is correct to say that there are differences. (rice is seasoned differently, usual internal components are slightly different).
that being said your ingredients aren’t entirely traditional, but i can imagine things like perilla leaf being potentially difficult to get ahold of, as evidenced by korean owned restaurants where i live also using coriander/parsley instead in kimbap.
Their loss imho! Perhaps you or someone should start a r/gimbap or r/kimbab… and let’s get creative 🍱💞