March
3/1 March 1st Movement (Sam-il Jeol):
3/1 is an official South Korean holiday commemorating the protest against Imperial Japan in 1919. It was one of the largest protests (2 million participants) to break out since the colonization starting in 1910. While the 3/1 protest across the nation was brutally suppressed by the Japanese (7500 killed, 16,000 wounded), it served as a catalyst to succeeding protests that continued until liberation in 1945.
Happy Spring! Spring is the season for picnics, which is why for March, we have a drawing of a very Korean picnic spread. Joomukbap (top container) and Kimbap (bottom container) with a lone tangerine and a sweet drink is what you might typically find in the backpack of a Korean grade schooler, on a school picnic day.
Growing up in Korea, I had so many of these lunchboxes every year with kimbap or joomukbap. The sheer excitement of opening our lunches at the picnic site never really got old, even with the same old food each year.
Let’s jump into the recipes! Here’s how to make Joomukbap:
Tuna Joomukbap Recipe
Ingredients
1 cup cooked rice
1 can of tuna, oil drained
2 Tbsp kewpie mayo
1/2 green bell pepper, minced
salt to taste
1 Tbsp seaweed furikake
1 packet of gim (Korean Seaweed)
mix the rice, Kewpie mayo, tuna, green pepper, and furikake until evenly mixed
put on plastic gloves on both hands, and coat both palms with a few drops of oil or sesame oil. this will prevent the sticking.
take a bite sized amount of the seasoned rice into your hands and press it into a ball. repeat until you don’t have any rice left.
In a zip lock bag, add the packet of seaweed (remove the silica gel packet!) and crush the seaweed into small pieces.
add one rice ball at a time and shake the bag until the rice ball is coated. repeat for all rice balls. enjoy!
Spicy Pork Kimbap Recipe
Ingredients
thin sliced pork (0.5lb)
1 Tbsp gochujang
1 Tbsp soysauce
1 tsp gochugaru
1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp minced garlic
2 eggs
cucumer, sliced
shredded carrots
Kimbap Seaweed paper (Kimbap Gim)
You will need a bamboo Kimbap roller!
1 cup rice
1 tsp sesame oil
salt
sesame seeds
Ingredient Prep: cut the pork into thin strips, beat the eggs, slice the cucumbers, and julienne or shred the carrots.
Pork: On a hot oiled pan, begin to stir fry the pork, then add gochujang, soy sauce, gochugaru, sugar, garlic. stir fry until completely cooked and slightly caramelized
Eggs: spread the eggs thin onto a nonstick pan and make a crepe. fold in half and cook 3-4 minutes on medium heat. transfer to a cutting board and cut into strips
lightly salt and stir fry the carrots in a little bit of oil. set aside.
Season the rice with seseame oil and salt to taste. do not add too much oil!
On a flat surface, spread the Kimbap roller and place the kimbap seaweed towards one end. sometimes the Gim will have lines for easy tearing. the lines should be parallel to the kimbap roller.
spread a tennis-ball amount of rice and spread it across the Gim, from bottom to two-thirds of the Gim surface. stack the ingredients on top of the rice.
make sure to smear some rice at the very top of the gim, so that the kimbap stays sealed when rolled. the smeared rice will act as the glue.
carefully roll the kimbap, trying to tuck in the ingredients as you roll forward. allow the kimbap to rest, sealed side down
brush the kimbap with sesame oil, then sprinkle with sesame seeds. cut into bite size. moisten the knife a tiny bit to get a clean cut and avoid sticking. enjoy!!
Kimbap isn’t easy, but the more you do it, the more you’ll get the hang of it. don’t give up!!
