Chamchi (tuna) gimbap

This variation of gimbap is made with canned tuna (chamchi in Korean). You can make the tuna filling the way you make tuna salad with mayonnaise and other ingredients. I added a bit of dijon mustard, lemon juice, and diced celery. A bit of diced onion will be nice as well. 

You can add any typical gimbap ingredients such as egg, eomuk (fish cake), pickled radish, carrot or spinach. In this recipe, I used romaine lettuce, perilla leaves (kkaennip), cucumbers, crab sticks, and pickled radish. The lettuce and perilla leaves wrap the tuna and other ingredients inside the roll, separating the wet ingredients from the rice. They also add a nice color and freshness to the gimbap. 

For the rice:

2 cups (standard measuring cup not the cup that comes with a rice cooker) uncooked short grain rice

1-1/2 tablespoons sesame oil

salt to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon)

For the tuna:

2 cans tuna, drained well

2 tablespoons finely diced celery

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

2 teaspoons lemon juice

Salt (start with 1/4 teaspoon) and pepper to taste

For the other ingredients:

10 romaine lettuce leaves (only use green leafy part)

10 perilla leaves

2-3 cucumbers

5 strips pickled radish (danmuji)

5 (10 if short) pieces imitation crab meat (crab sticks)

5 sheets gim

   Cook the rice using a little less water than usual. (Fresh cooked rice is best for gimbap.)

Drain the tuna well in a strainer. Press with a spoon to force more liquid to drain.

Mix well with the celery, mayonnaise, dijon mustard, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Prepare the other ingredients. Make sure the vegetables are dry. Pat the crab sticks and pickled radish with a paper towel to remove excess water.

When all the other ingredients are ready, remove the rice from the rice cooker. While the rice is still hot, add the sesame oil and salt. Mix well by lightly folding with a rice paddle or large spoon until evenly seasoned. The rice will cool down during this process and be ready to be used.

Put a sheet of gim, shiny side down with the longer side toward you, on a cutting board or a bamboo mat if available. Spread about 3/4 of rice evenly over the gim using a rice paddle or preferably your fingers.

Lay two lettuce leaves and two perilla leaves on top of the rice, close to you, and then the tuna and other prepared ingredients.

Lift the entire bottom edge with both hands, and roll over the filling away from you, bringing it to the other end of rice and tucking in the filling with your fingers. Put firm pressure over the roll with the help of the bamboo mat, if using, to close everything in tightly. Then, continue to roll again, putting pressure evenly over the roll using both hands.

Rub or brush the roll with a little bit of sesame oil for extra flavor and a shiny look. Apply a little bit of sesame oil to a sharp knife. This will keep the rice from sticking to the knife. Repeat as necessary after each cut. Wipe the knife with a damp towel if the rice still sticks. Cut the roll into bite sizes.

For more recipes visit www.koreanbapsang.com.

By Ro Hyo-sun