Summertime Sushi

Summer meals in the Chung household consists of a lot of Korean Sushi Rolls (aka Kim Bap). I spent many summers helping my grandma roll sushi, but could never perfect the skill to her level.

Since I won't be able to see the family until the end of August, I thought I would bring a little bit of Chung-ness to Buffalo by making our favorite summertime meal.

And the best part, I get to be in total control of the sushi fillers, meaning I get to put my favorite ingredients into the rolls.

Here's my recipe for my all time favorite Kim Bap but feel free to add cooked spinach, cooked shredded carrots, crab meat, bulgogi (Korean marinated beef), etc. And don't forget to watch the accompanying video I made for assembling the kim bap (I had some fun with iMovie one afternoon).

Grandma's Kim Bap makes 4 long rolls
Ingredients:
4 cups of cooked sushi rice (use this tutorial)
2 tbs rice vinegar
2 tbs sugar
1 tbs salt
(or omit rice vinegar, sugar and salt and use this seasoning packet that my grandma frequently uses. 1 tsp of the seasoning per cup of cooked rice)

2 eggs
1 tsp water
pinch of salt

pickled daikon, sliced thinly into long strips
Spam, sliced thinly into long strips
avocado, sliced thinly into long strips
cucumber, sliced thinly into long strips

1 package of roasted seaweed sheets (unseasoned)
sesame oil

Directions:
1. Take prepared rice and place into large bowl. Place rice vinegar, sugar and salt into a small, microwave-safe bowl and heat on high in microwave for 30 seconds. Stir then mix into bowl of rice. Stir to combine and set aside until rice is at room temperature.
2. Heat a frying pan over medium low heat and coat with oil. Mix eggs, water and salt into bowl. Then pour egg mixture into heated pan. Cook until cooked through. Set aside to cool. Once cooled, cut egg into long thin strips.
3. Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Roast seaweed sheet over heat for about 30 seconds on each side or until heated through. (this aids in an extra toasty flavor to the kim bap).
4. To assemble:

• Lay seaweed sheet on top of sushi mat. Spread cooled rice evenly and thinly onto seaweed, making sure to go all the way to the edges and only covering 3/4 of the seaweed. 
• Starting 1 cm from the bottom edge, place first ingredient of choice to cover the the entire width of rice (so you may need to use 1-4 pieces of each ingredient). Then place next ingredient closely next to previous one. 
• Begin to roll the bottom edge of the mat but make sure to keep that edge of the sushi mat from rolling under with the seaweed. These pictures (or my video) will help you understand how to roll. Continue rolling until it becomes one big log. 
• Once a log forms, make sure to squeeze the roll in the mat, to ensure all the ingredients stick together within the roll.

5. To slice, pour a splash of sesame seed oil onto a sharp knife and then spread onto sushi roll. Then slice into 1 inch pieces. 

6. Enjoy! 

***If you happen to have leftovers, refrigerate overnight. Then when ready to eat the next day, beat an egg in a bowl to create an egg wash, then dip the kim bap pieces into the egg wash. Then cook on a heated skillet until egg is cooked.***