Stir-fried kimchi is mixed into the tuna mayo, so each bite starts rich and creamy and finishes sour and bright. A layer of perilla leaves between the rice and the filling shows up as a green ring when the roll is sliced.
Cutting each seaweed sheet in half makes rolls small enough to fit tuna mayo, pickled radish, carrot and spinach into a single bite. With only half a sheet to close around everything, the rice is spread thin and the fillings kept in a narrow line down the middle.
Thin strips of burdock root, soaked briefly in vinegar water, are sauteed with onion in sesame oil before the soaked rice, carrot and chicken stock go in. The burdock's earthy aroma and faint crunch are what an ordinary chicken porridge does not have. The chicken tenderloin is added after the rice has broken down and cooks only briefly.
Strips of beef round marinate in soy sauce and cooking wine for 10 minutes, get stir-fried with burdock and carrot, and then the soaked rice is toasted in the same pot before the water goes in. The marinade carries over into the rice, so no sauce is served on the side. The burdock, soaked briefly in vinegar water first, still has its crunch after cooking.
The eel cooks skin side down first so some of its fat renders out, then gets brushed with a tare of soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar until glossy. Because of the sugar in the tare, the second coat goes on over low heat, just for shine. Sansho pepper and chopped chives are scattered over the eel once it is on the rice.
Apple snails, diced zucchini, onion, and crumbled tofu are simmered with doenjang and gochujang into a chunky paste, then folded with warm rice into lettuce and perilla leaves. Unlike ureong doenjang jjigae, a soupy stew with the same snails, this version is reduced until a spoonful holds its shape for about five seconds and nothing drips from the leaf.
What arrives looks like a clear soup of tofu cubes and sliced shiitake; the rice only appears when a spoon reaches the bottom of the bowl. That hidden portion is kept small so the soup and tofu can cover it completely. The broth comes from kombu and fresh shiitake and is skimmed during simmering to stay clear, and the firm tofu cubes are cooked gently so they hold their edges. Scallion, minced mandarin peel, grated ginger, and crushed sesame go on at the table, each diner adding as much as they like.
Chewy wild rice is tossed with red cabbage, carrot and edamame in a soy and brown rice vinegar dressing, with seaweed chips on top. The chips go soft as soon as the dressing touches them, so they are added on the plate right before eating.
Carrot gets a one-minute head start before the onion, zucchini, bell pepper and corn follow. The order goes by how long each vegetable takes to cook, not by how much water it holds. Everything is cut to about 5 mm so it spreads evenly through the rice, and the corn kernels give little bursts of sweetness.
The spinach is dressed with sesame oil and salt, the carrot is cut into strips and sauteed, and the burdock is braised in soy sauce, then all three are rolled with pickled radish and thin egg strips. Each filling is seasoned on its own, so the colors stay separate and sharp when the roll is sliced.
Potato, zucchini, carrot and shiitake are minced very fine and toasted in sesame oil with the soaked rice, then simmered in water over low heat for 30 minutes. A little soup soy sauce and salt at the end leave room for the sweetness the vegetables give off. By the time it is done, the potato is soft enough to mash along with the rice.
Eaten at Jeongwol Daeboreum, the first full moon of the lunar year, yakbap sits closer to a sweet snack than a side of rice. Glutinous rice goes through the steamer twice: once plain, then again after it has been tossed with a warm syrup of soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, and cinnamon. That second steaming turns every grain glossy brown and chewy, with jujubes, chestnuts, and pine nuts tucked throughout.
Baked in a muffin tin, yakbap comes out in pieces you can pick up one at a time. The soaked glutinous rice sits in soy sauce, dark brown sugar, honey and sesame oil for 20 minutes before going into the cups with diced chestnuts and slivered jujubes. Pine nuts on top toast in the 180°C oven along with them.
Salted rice balls grill over medium-low heat, each side left alone for a good while, with a thin coat of soy and mirin glaze brushed on at every turn. The outside becomes a thin, crisp shell, and only the edges where the glaze gathers turn a little chewy. A strip of nori goes around the base, with miso soup and pickled radish alongside.
Chicken thigh and green onion are threaded onto skewers and cooked in a skillet, then brushed again and again with a thin coat of tare, a sweet glaze of soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Thigh meat has enough fat to stay juicy through that repeated searing. Laid over hot rice, the glaze runs down between the grains and no extra sauce is needed.
Only honey sweetens this yaksik and no caramel goes in, so it stays lighter than the deep brown versions, with each glutinous rice grain still visible around the jujubes and chestnuts. Cinnamon and sesame oil carry the aroma, and soy sauce leaves a savory note between the sweet bites. The rice is steamed plain until no hard core remains, seasoned in a bowl, then steamed again, so set aside most of a day counting the 5-hour soak.
To match the sourness of yeolmu kimchi (young radish greens), the gochujang sauce is first loosened with vinegar and maesil, a green plum syrup. Barley rice is topped in sections with the kimchi, cucumber and lettuce plus halved boiled eggs, and the sauce goes in only right before eating, half of it first.
Raw salmon and avocado alternate over warm rice, dressed with soy sauce, mirin, and sesame oil: half the sauce coats the salmon for a short rest in the fridge, and the rest is drizzled over the rice. Buy salmon sold for raw eating and kept refrigerated. Smell and appearance alone do not tell you it is safe raw. Keep it chilled until you cut it, and use a clean knife and board. Neither the warm rice nor the soy sauce cooks the fish, and the unheated mirin keeps its alcohol. The bowl is best eaten right away, before a long marinade toughens the flesh and the warm rice changes its texture.
A whole salmon fillet cooks right on top of the soaked rice, and only after resting is it broken into big flakes and folded through. The finish is soy sauce, a knob of butter, and lemon juice, which makes the rice rich and savory with a bright edge. Thick fillets can still be underdone at the center when the rice is ready. A thermometer reading of 63°C at the thickest point is the signal to stop.
The rice itself stays unseasoned, and a simple soy and sesame oil sauce comes on the side, mixed into each bowl a little at a time to keep it from getting too salty. Thin lotus root slices steam on top of the rice instead of being stirred in. They stay whole, turn translucent at the edges, and keep a light crunch.
The chicken flavor comes in twice: breast meat poached separately with green onion and ginger, then shredded, and a full pot of chicken stock as the cooking liquid. Lotus root is minced only a little larger than the rice grains, enough to give a slight bite inside the smooth porridge without feeling like separate chunks.
Perilla oil is the only source of aroma. Shiitake, carrot, the rice and the lotus root are all sautéed in it before cooking, so the grains come out glossy, with thin slices of lotus root staying crisp throughout.
The shrimp are never sauteed. After 10 minutes in garlic and soup soy sauce, they go on top of the rice once the pot is bubbling hard and turn pink in the steam under the lid. Their garlicky soy juices season the top layer of rice, and the lotus root, cut 3 mm thick, is still crisp after resting.
Equal parts white rice and glutinous rice make this mixed rice stickier and chewier than plain steamed rice, with chestnuts, jujubes (Korean red dates), black soybeans, and shiitake studded through it. The toppings are simply layered over the rice and left alone, with no stirring or pressing, and the chestnuts and dates hold their shape.