16 recipes. Page 1 of 1
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Lightly toasted gim is torn into big pieces and tossed with a soy and sesame oil dressing and thinly sliced scallion. Big pieces matter, because some of the edges stay crisp even after the dressing goes on. The seaweed drinks up liquid within minutes, and only what will be eaten right away gets mixed.
Rice wraps the outside and the nori sits hidden within, an inside-out construction that keeps the dark seaweed out of sight. The roll is credited to Japanese chefs in North America in the 1960s or 1970s, but who made it first, and whether in Los Angeles or Vancouver, is still disputed. The inside-out wrap is said to have started because American diners peeled the seaweed off.
Glass noodles seasoned with soy sauce and sesame oil go into seaweed with stir-fried vegetables, rolled tight and fried. Rolling while the filling is still hot wets the seaweed and tears it, so the filling is spread out to cool first. They also get dipped in tteokbokki sauce.
Store-bought frozen dumplings go straight into boiling anchovy stock without thawing, and in about five minutes they float. Many Korean families make this instead of tteokguk at Lunar New Year, and adding rice cakes turns it into tteok-manduguk.
With dried anchovies, kelp and somyeon noodles on hand, this bowl comes together even when the fridge is nearly empty. There is no chili and no fermented paste; the clear anchovy broth simmers for 15 minutes and is seasoned with soup soy sauce and salt. The thin wheat noodles cook in a separate pot and are rinsed, so their starch does not cloud the broth.
Daikon cut into very fine threads is crisped in cold water, then piled with bonito flakes and shredded nori and dressed with soy sauce, rice vinegar and a little sesame oil.
Tuna gimbap is on nearly every Korean gimbap shop menu. Well-drained tuna mixed with mayonnaise runs down the center, surrounded by carrot, spinach, thin egg strips and danmuji, yellow pickled radish.
Hot soy-seasoned broth with matchstick tofu goes into each bowl, then gets a ladle of raw grated nagaimo yam loosened with daikon juice, which spreads softly over the surface. This is the formal nuppei style from Iwate's Buddhist cooking, rather than the hachihai variation that thickens the whole pot with potato starch. The name hachihai is linked either to making eight bowls from one block of tofu or to wanting many refills. Gloves help when grating the nagaimo, which can irritate skin, and the topping goes on just before eating.
Grated daikon gives the chilled mentsuyu a mild peppery bite and a cooling edge, with scallion, nori, and wasabi adding sharper notes. Thick udon is chilled all the way through in ice water after rinsing, which firms the starch and brings back its springy chew.
No stove needed: drained canned tuna stirred with mayonnaise is spooned over a bowl of warm rice, with soy sauce, sesame oil and crushed seaweed on top. Press the tuna in a sieve until no more oil drips, then break up the big flakes with a fork so the mayo coats it evenly.
Butter melts slowly into a clear chicken and soy broth, leaving a rich, toasty aroma floating on top. Sweet corn and crunchy bean sprouts keep the salty broth from feeling heavy. The noodles boil in their own pot so their starch never clouds the soup, and the broth itself stays at a gentle simmer because hard boiling reduces it and pushes the salt up.
Small rolls of plain seasoned rice with no filling sit beside spicy squid and seasoned radish, and you take a bite of one, then the other. It is the Tongyeong way: salt and sesame oil for the rice, and all the heat in the side dishes.
The spinach is squeezed hard before it is seasoned, the carrot is sauteed to drive off water, and the rice is left to cool a little before it is spread on the seaweed. All three steps are there to keep the gim from going soggy. The finished roll and the knife both get a thin coat of sesame oil before slicing.
This bowl starts from a 200 g raw, cleaned freshwater eel fillet rather than a packet of cooked kabayaki, and that changes how it has to be handled. The sugary glaze darkens well before the center is done. The signal is the thickest part reaching 63°C/145°F, not the shine.
Each sheet of gim (roasted seaweed) is cut into four, and the rolls come out about the size of a finger, filled with little more than carrot, spinach and a strip of egg. The seasoning comes from a dip of mustard, soy sauce, vinegar and sugar, and the sharp kick of the mustard keeps hands reaching for one more.
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.