Hello everybody! Let’s learn how to make jumeokbap today!
Jumeok literally means ‘fist’ and bap means ‘cooked rice,’ so jumeokbap is the Korean word for any kind of dish that consists of hand-shaped rice balls, no matter the size, ingredients, or seasonings used.
There are many kinds of jumokbap (just like there are many kinds of gimbap – seaweed rice rolls) and its simplicity lends itself to experimentation and invention. For example, if you’re a bacon lover, you can add chopped and cooked bacon inside the rice ball, press and shape it with your hands, and say, “Oh, I made bacon jumeokbap!”
Put some chopped kimchi in it too, and you can say, “Oh, lovely kimchi jumeokbap!”
Jumeokbap is very simple, quick, and cheap to make, and it’s also delicious, light, savory, and pretty filling. I used to make it all the time for my children’s dosirak (lunch box). It’s something that you can make in the morning before they go to school, or if you don’t have children, for yourself before you go to work or out for the day.
The beauty of this recipe that I’m going to show you is that it’ll stay crispy and crunchy for hours in a lunchbox until it’s ready for lunch!
You can make the seaweed flakes ahead of time and keep them in the freezer for up to 1 month. You can use them in jumeokbap, or make a nutty and flavorful bibimbap with it. Just add some of the flakes to a bowl of warm rice in a bowl and mix together. Add a bit of soy sauce and sesame oil if you have it, and it makes a quick meal.
This recipe is my own jumeokbap variation that I invented. I call it gimgaru jumeokbap, or rice balls in seaweed flakes. I have many more jumeokbap recipes that I used to make for dosirak for my family. I’ll share the recipes with you over time, and you can make them for your family, too!
Ingredients for the seasoned seaweed flakes
Ingredients for 1 dosirak
Directions
- Tear the toasted gim a few times and put it into the food processor along with the sesame seeds and salt.
- Process until it turns into coarse powder. Put the flakes into a glass jar or a plastic container. Set aside.
- Place the rice in a bowl with the sesame oil and mix with a wooden spoon. Let it cool for a few minutes.
- Divide the rice into 2 portions, and make 2 rice balls. When the rice is warm, it sticks together well. Shape each ball into 4 inch wide discs.
- Heat up a nonstick pan over high heat. Add a few drops of cooking oil and swirl to coat evenly. Put the rice discs onto the pan and cook for a few minutes until the bottom turns crispy. Turn them over and cook for a few more minutes until the both sides are light golden brown.
- Cut the Vienna sausages in half and make 2 slits crosswise into one end of each piece. This way, the ends will split into flowers when they cook.
- Put the sausages into the pan and with a drop of cooking oil. Cook until the ends open up into flowers. Remove from the heat.
Put it all together
- Put the jumeokbap into your lunchbox container on a bed of lettuce if you have it. Spread a teaspoon or so of gochujang on the top of each rice disc, and then sprinkle a few tablespoons of seaweed flakes over top.
- Add and nicely arrange the egg halves, broccoli, Vienna sausages, chopped danmuji, and cherry tomatoes (if used).
- Eat right away, or save for lunch. Just open the dosirak and enjoy!
Posted Saturday, June 20th, 2015 at 7:15 pm.
Tagged: bento box, delicious lunchbox, dosirak, 김가루 주먹밥, fist rice, gim-garu, gimgaru jumeokbap, 주먹밥, 주먹밥 도시락, jumeokbap, Korean bento, Korean cooking, Korean cuisine, korean food, Korean kitchen, Korean style bento, Korean style onigiri, lunchbox, Maangchi fist rice, rice ball lunch box, rice balls, Rice balls in seaweed flakes, seaweed powder
Aug 15th
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Jul 26th
Hi Maangchi!
Can I use Nori? It’s very hard to get gim paper here…
Nori is gim in Japanese.
I made this for my lunch a few days ago. It was delicious! I didn’t have the right kind of rice and I couldn’t get it to stick together, so I just mixed the seaweed flakes in and it was great!
Hi Manucho
I want to make this dish can you give me a idea to substitute the red pepper paste cause my son can’t eat spicy food yet. Thanks!
You don’t need to use any sauce actually. In Korea it’s common to make jumeokbap with mayonaise, tuna and/or kimchi inside and outside only the seaweed, no other sauce added so maybe you can replace gochujang by that.
Hi maangchi! I sometimes buy this seaweed mixture at H Mart. I love it tossed over rice. It tastes a little sweet- I might add s pinch of sugar. Also the flakes of seaweed are a little larger. I will experiment!
Thanks,
Lisa
Lisa,
I’m curious about your experiment. Please share your experiment with me and my readers.
Hi Maangchi
Last night I just started pre-cooking. I cooked octupus for Takoyaki, portioned it and froze it (so I have it when I want Takoyaki), made cheddar-cheese-broccoli-tots and while I am at it I thought why not cook rice for the this delicious recipe. I cooked and preshaped the rice and fried it this morning and toped it with the seeweed-sesame mix.
I had to split my lunch in two boxes but in this picture you see the rice ball and the tots.
I guess it is time for the to buy a big bento box :-).
Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe.
See full size image
ups, I just remembered I forgot to brush hot chilli past on the ball. But I have sweet chillie sauce with me. I guess thats ok too,or? But they taste great. Thank you Maangchi for teaching us so well und with so much fun and love.
What a great looking dosirak it is! : )
This looks amazing!! When you tasted it and I heard that crunch OMG I have to have some now!! Fantastic recipe as always. And you look beautiful in that green blouse.
P.S. Pleeeeeaaase share what brand of short grain rice you use!
I’m sure you will make beautiful rice balls with the seaweed flakes!
I don’t have any particular brand of rice I prefer and I’m still looking for the best brand of rice. I used a Japanese brand for this recipe. http://amzn.to/1SAI49o
Oh thank you so much Maangchi, I’ve been dying to know what brand you use! I use this one and really love it but it’s hard to come by http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sun-Valley-Premium-Rice-Megumi/dp/B00IES4UBA
Hi Maangchi, you never disappoint me! What a wonderful creation! It’s a great idea to bring to work as lunch box! Thanks for sharing your invention
JY from Singapore
JY,
Thank you for your nice encouraging comment!