My go-to comfort food is Gimbap (김밥) and Rice served in soup (국밥). I've been enjoying Gimbap ever since I transitioned to a vegan diet. Since traditional rice soup often contains meat, I've opted out of that for now.

Gimbap is incredibly easy to whip up. It's all about rolling your preferred ingredients together in one go.

Ingredients: Seaweed paper, rice, salt, sesame oil, cooking oil, carrot, eggplant, spinach, onion, hummus

(Traditionally, ingredients are chosen by color: crab meat for red, carrot for orange, burdock root and fish cake for brown, egg and pickled radish for yellow, and spinach or cucumber for green)

Seasoning the rice with salt and sesame oil is key. Getting that balance just right ensures your Gimbap turns out delicious every time. Occasionally, I'll even add some of the oil leftover from stir-frying the carrots for an extra boost of flavor.

When it comes to frying eggs, there are two methods I use: either mixing the egg white and yolk or separating them. (My vegan friend eats eggs, but I personally do not.)

After washing, shred the carrots and stir-fry them in plenty of cooking oil with a pinch of salt. Make sure to collect the oil separately after stir-frying.

Cut the eggplant into finger-thick slices and grill them in the oven with a touch of salt to dry them out slightly.

Blanch the spinach and remove excess water. Alternatively, you can choose other leafy vegetables depending on the season.

Thinly slice the onion and soak it in water for a few minutes to mellow out its flavor.

Now, it's time to roll! Lay out a sheet of seaweed paper, spread the rice thinly on top, and add all your prepared ingredients before rolling it up.

Before cutting, lightly brush sesame oil over the surface of the seaweed. I love dipping my Gimbap in hummus, but you can also add it directly into the roll.

Enjoy your homemade Gimbap!

(It's edited by ChatGPT 😝. Do you think it is good way to learn writing??)