Gimbap!!! YUM!!!

Lunch for today! For my family, but, since I don't eat rice, I only ate the vegetables.. :)))

Make-shift Gimbap

Gimbap is a futomaki (Japanese) derivative from Korea. There's really no distinct difference between the two except from their origin. The Futomaki is from Japan and the Gimbap (or Kimbap) is from Korea. The dish is just steamed white rice (gim) layered with other ingredients and rolled with dried laver seaweed (bap). It is commonly served with danmuji, or kimchi, which are both pickled something.

Both the Koreans and the Japanese make this dish to serve in picnics and/or as light-lunch. I prepared this for my family today, because I needed to consume the left-over Japanese Mayonnaise from yesterday (Kani Salad). Its pretty easy to prepare, a 5-year-od child can prepare this!

First is, of course, you secure the ingredients needed to make the dish. You will need: Seaweed, Meat (any meat will do! Pork, beef, chicken, even processed meat!), vegetables (I would, however, prefer you use pickled vegetables, it adds favor), and of course, the steamed rice! The steamed rice should be sticky, the east Asians have a variety of rice that becomes sticky when cooked, but you can just as well use the plain white rice! You can make it sticky by adding 2-4 tablespoon of rice vinegar when you cook it, depending on how strong the available vinegar is (you don't want your rice to be sour). Make sure also that the other ingredients are already cleaned and cooked (if necessary), 'cause after your rice is cooked, you would only need 10 minutes to prepare it, and I find it really tasty when you serve it hot! You must also prepare a Sushi Mat for this dish, it is easily available in supermarkets for not more than 250 Php ($5). A picture of a sushi mat is shown below, so for those of you who hasn't seen it, you would know what to look for.

Got this picture form the internet, by searching: sushi mat

You first place the laver seaweed on top of the mat and spread rice over it. Then place the other ingredients on top of the rice in a single horizontal manner on about an inch from the end of the mat. Then you roll it, using the mat, starting from where the ingredients are closer! You can add vinegar to the other end of the seaweed to make it stick. Anyways, I won't go to the details, since I was not able to take photos of the preparation, and since I did not really prepare for a tutorial.. :))

The dish is perfect for those who are always in a hurry! You can prepare it a day before and bring it as your lunch to where ever it is you planned on going, be it the office, the school, or even the mall (for those who are not into fastfoods). It's delicious and its fun to do!!! You can even invite anyone to do it with you! YUM!!!