3 Recipes from Eric Kim's Cookbook, 'Korean American'

Source: Eric Kim/‘Korean American’

Sesame-Soy Deviled Eggs

These are the deviled eggs I make the most. They sort of taste like if you took gyrangbap, or egg rice and turned it into a single party bite: salty from soy sauce, nutty from sesame oil, and full of deep savoriness from the roasted seaweed. My parents love these because they taste, well, Korean.

Ingredients:

6 large eggs
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil, plus more as needed
Black sesame seeds, for serving 2 small sheets gim (from a 5-gram packet), for garnish

MAKES 12 EGG HALVES

Directions:

1. In a small pot, place the eggs in a single layer and add cold water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat, then immediately turn off the heat, cover, and set vour timer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes of steeping, pour the hot water out and place the pot under a cold running tap. The eggs should be cool enough to touch now. Crack the bottom of each egg on a hard surface, such as the sink or counter, and return to the cold water, letting them sit for a few seconds. Peel the eggs and halve them lengthwise.
   
2. Pop the yolks out into a small bowl. Add the mayonnaise, soy sauce, and sesame oil to the yolks and whisk together until smooth and fluffy. Add more sesame oil if dry. Transfer this filling to a resealable plastic bag and snip off one corner of the bag. Pipe the filling into each egg. (If making ahead, cover the eggs and keep in the fridge for up to 2 days.)
   
3. Right before serving, sprinkle some black sesame seeds atop each egg. Using kitchen shears, snip the gim into a dozen 1-inch squares and top each egg with a single square.
    

Kimchi Sandwiches

My cousin Semi remembers eating kimchi sandwiches on family picnics. The funny thing is, I don't remember these at all, and neither does her mom, my Aunt Georgia. But according to Semi, Aunt Georgia always brought sandwiches made of chopped kimchi stuffed between two slices of white bread, and the kids would eat them. I loved this image so much that I tried the sandwich myself ... and it was interesting! (Sorry, Aunt Georgia.) The idea still intrigued me, though. One of my favorite sandwiches is bread-and-butter pickles with butter on soft, white sandwich bread. So I tried this with kimchi and butter. Though it was a little better, I found that the tang of mayonnaise worked best with the fermented flavors of the filling, made even more complex and delicious when balanced with sugar and a splash of sesame oil. This is a very simple sandwich- as the best ones often are.

Ingredients:

1 cup finely chopped drained napa cabbage kimchi, store-bought or homemade
½ teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
4 slices soft white sandwich bread (Milk Bread with Maple Syrup, is especially good)

MAKES 2 SANDWICHES

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, stir together the kimchi, sugar, and sesame oil.
2. Spread the mayonnaise on two slices of bread.
3. Divide the kimchi mixture between the two slices and top with the remaining bread slices.
4. Cut off the crusts (optional) and slice the sandwiches in half before packing for lunch or eating.
    

Cheeseburger Kimbap

If Spam's not your thing, then this invention from my thirteen-year-old self might do it for you: kimbap with all the flavors of a classic cheeseburger. Though you need the cheese and burger for this to be a cheeseburger kimbap proper, the true key to that nostalgic taste exists, for me, within the mayochup (mayonnaise and ketchup), raw onion (trust me), and pickle (lots of it).

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked white rice, fresh or day-old 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 ounces ground beef
½ teaspoon garlic powder
Freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup finely diced yellow onion
2 tablespoons chopped kosher dill pickles, plus 1 to 2 pickles, quartered lengthwise 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 (7½ × 8-inch) sheets unseasoned kimbap gim
2 slices American cheese, halved

SERVES 2

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, stir together the rice and sesame oil, season with salt, and gently stir everything together with a plastic rice scooper or rubber spatula (to minimize sticking) until evenly combined. You'll notice the grains start to glisten and separate thanks to the nutty sesame oil. Set the seasoned rice aside to cool if it's not already.
   
2.  In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and garlic powder and season with salt and pepper. Fry, stirring occasionally, until browned, evenly caramelized and crispy at the edges, and no longer pink, about 8 minutes. Drain off the fat and transfer the beef to a medium bowl. Add the onion, chopped pickles, mayonnaise, and ketchup to the beef and stir until well combined.
   
3. Lay one sheet of kimbap gim, shiny-side up, on a cutting board or clean counter in front of you, a shorter side facing you. Spread ½ cup of the seasoned rice as evenly as you can across the entire surface area of the seaweed. (A plastic rice scooper is best for this--again, the sticking -but you can use any implement you like, keeping a small bowl of water nearby to wet your hands if things get sticky.)
   
4. About one-third up from the bottom, lay two American cheese halves (they should be long rectangles) end to end over the rice, creating a straight orange line across the width of the surface. Spoon the beef laterally across the cheese, creating a straight, fairly contained line. Finally, place the quartered pickles, as many as you like, over the beef.
   
5. Starting from the bottom, tightly roll the kimbap like a sleeping bag or cinnamon roll. Once rolled, use both hands to gently squeeze the roll even tighter together, compacting the rice, seaweed, hamburger filling, and American cheese into each other, fusing as one. With a very sharp knife, cut crosswise into ¾-inch-thick pieces. Repeat to make 1 more kimbap.
6. These are at their best when eaten slightly warm, but also taste great at room temperature.