Spring is in the air and blooms are everywhere~ It's time to bring some flower power to our table! I romanticized the Korean gimbap and made them into flower shapes, filled with colorful vegetables, umami shiitake mushrooms, and tofu.
Gimbap, sometimes also spelled as Kimbap, is a Korean rice roll wrapped with roasted seaweed sheets and filled with a variety of meat, egg, and vegetables. The origin of Gimbap remains debated, some say it was created during the Japanese occupation of Korea when Korean people adapted Japanese sushi. On the other hand, it could also have been a natural invention from eating rice and living ocean-adjacent.
While seeming similar at first glance, gimbap and sushi are in fact quite different. Sushi rolls are made of rice that's seasoned with sushi vinegar and usually filled with seafood and sometimes vegetables. Whereas gimbap rolls are made of rice that's seasoned with toasted sesame oil and salt, and traditionally filled with sauteed beef, sliced omelet, and sauteed or blanched vegetables.
For this vegan version, I used tofu instead of eggs, sauteed shiitake mushrooms instead of beef, and blanched spinach, carrot, yellow sweet pepper, and cucumber. You don't have to shape the rolls in the flower shape! You can simply just arrange the fillings on the rice and then roll it up as normal - it'll be much faster and easier that way.
But if you do wanna attempt the flower shape, watch the video below for how to shape them, I promise it's not hard it just takes a little more time!
INGREDIENTS:
2 cup cooked short grain white rice
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 roasted seaweed sheet
4 oz spinach
1 large carrot
1 yellow bell pepper
3 oz shiitake mushroom
2 oz extra firm tofu
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari
1 tablespoon coconut amino
More sesame oil for cooking
TO MAKE:
- Cook your rice with a touch less water than usual, once cooked, quickly spread the rice in a large, shallow bowl, and mix in the sesame oil and salt using a slicing motion to avoid mushing the rice grains, let it cool down until not steaming anymore, then cover and set aside;
- Use a very thick straw, to carve out 4 cylinder shapes of tofu for the center of the flower, if not making them into flowers, then just cut the tofu into about 1/2 inch thick strips;
- Finely slice the carrot, cucumber, and yellow pepper, try to cut them into a length that's as close to half the width of your seaweed paper as possible;
- Bring a pot of water to a rapid boil, quickly blanch the spinach for 20 - 30 seconds, then rinse under cold water and squeeze out the water;
- Cut the spinach in the same length as the other vegetables;
- Thinly slice the shiitake mushrooms, in a nonstick pan, fry off the garlic with a drizzle of sesame oil first, cook till aromatic and the garlic is slightly golden;
- Add in the mushrooms, stir and cook till the mushrooms have let out the moisture, it'd appear they are "sweating", then add the soy sauce and coconut amino;
- Lower the heat and cook until the sauce thickens and almost all absorbed, set aside;
- Take one seaweed paper, cut in half width-wise, reserve one half, and cut the other half lengthwise into 5 equal pieces;
- Use the 5 equal small pieces of seaweed to individually wrap the thin strips of carrot, cucumber, yellow pepper, spinach, and sauteed shiitake mushroom, try to remove as much liquid and moisture as possible in all the fillings, that will help maintain the structural integrity of the seaweed paper;
- On a bamboo mat, place on the reserved half seaweed paper, press on the season rice about 2/3 of the way lengthwise, then pick up the bamboo mat and use the palm of your left hand to create a curve with the rice part of the seaweed paper;
- Into the curve created with your palm, place on one roll of each carrot, cucumber, tofu, bell pepper, spinach, and shiitake mushroom, have all the small rolls form a flower shape looking from the side;
- Roll up as tightly as you can, all the way till the end of the seaweed paper, and brush on a little bit of sesame oil on the outside;
- Use a clean, sharp knife, slighted wetted, to slice the roll into 1/2 inch pieces;
- Repeat till you use up all the ingredients;
- Serve cool as is, enjoy!
