Vegan Kimbap

This kimbap taste like our childhood. Filled with delicious traditional ingredients like burdock and pickled radish. 💛

In elementary school, our mom would occasionally buy kimbap from the small mom & pop shop near our bus stop👩🏻👨🏻. We would pack it away in our backpacks and would always wait impatiently for lunchtime to come, so that we could open up the styrofoam box and devour one roll after another! 🥰

what is kimbap (gimbap)?

Kimbap is a popular go-to meal in Korea made by rolling cooked rice and other delicious ingredients in a sheet of seaweed. The amazing thing about kimbap is how versatile it is. While the traditional rolls contain fish cake, eggs, and beef it is easy to replace ingredients to create a vegan roll. We replaced the fish cakes with inari tofu, the eggs with JUST egg filled with Violife cheese, and the beef with bulgogi marinated tofu. We also added less traditional ingredients like avocado.

This is another recipe that lets us appreciate the food we grew up with! It reminds us that veganism isn’t limiting, instead, it allows us to become more creative and learn more about the ingredients that go into the foods we love.

how to roll kimbap?

Although it may seems complicated, rolling kimbap is simple and just takes practice. The key is to have a good seaweed that won't break and a nice proportion of filling. You don't want to overstuff your roll and ensure that you keep a tight roll.

When cutting your roll use a sharp knife to get even and clean slices.

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Vegan Kimbap

Serving Size: 6 rolls

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 20 mins

Total Time: 30 mins

Description

This kimbap taste like our childhood. Filled with delicious traditional ingredients like burdock and pickled radish. 💛

Ingredients:

6 sheets of nori

3 cups cooked short-grain white rice

2 tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup sesame seeds

12 inari sheets, tofu pockets

1 pickled radish, cut into 6 long strips

6 stips pickled burdock root

1/2 avocado, sliced length-wise

1 cucumber, sliced length-wise

Bulgogi Tofu

1 pack firm tofu

1/2 cup of bulgogi marinade

Cheese Egg

1/2 cup JUST egg

1/2 cup vegan shredded cheese

Instructions:

Filling

1. Rice. Cook 1 cup of short-grain white rice or sushi rice, using little less water. While freshly cooked rice is best for kimbap, we often use rice cooked the night before and simple reheat it. Once cooked, mix sesame oil and salt into the rice.

2. Bulgogi tofu. Preheat the oven to 375F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mats. Drain and then press the firm tofu for 30 mins. Cut into lengthwise into strips and marinate with the bulgogi sauce for 1 hour. Then bake the tofu for 30 mins.

3. Egg. Add oil to a large pan on medium heat. Pour in 1/4 cup of JUST egg and let it cook. Once the "egg" has cooked, top with vegan cheese and roll into one long strip. Then cut into 3 strips, overall you should have 6 strips of egg and cheese.

4. Other. Cut the pickled radish, pickled burdock, avocado, and cucumber. And open your inari pockets and cut them in half to create 2 pieces.

Assembly

1. Crisp your nori sheet by running it quickly over a medium flame (optional). Then pack on an even layer of rice and sprinkle on an even layer of sesame seeds.

2. On the bottom third of the sheet (the side closer to you), add your fillings. Start by layering the inari, then layer all the other fillings.

3. Once filled, roll the seaweed. Lift the entire bottom edge of the seaweed and roll over the filling and away from you. Use your fingers to tuck in the filling. Continue this rolling motion and put pressure to create a tight roll.

4. Apply 1 tsp of sesame oil on top of the roll for a shiny look, and apply oil on a sharpe knife. Slice the roll into ½ inch pieces.

5. Repeat step 1-4 till you have created 6 rolls. Then serve and enjoy!