[Korean Recipes] Kimchi Tuna Rice Patties and Balls

Kimchi Tuna Rice Patties (김치 참치 주먹밥, kimchi chamchi jumeokbap). It is similar to Japanese onigiri. Here is the beauty shot!

The recipe itself is ridiculously simple but the outcome is like something you would get from a fancy Japanese restaurant. Let’s take a look.

Introducing Mrs. Sour and Mr. Tuna

Drain your humble tuna. Press to suck the juice out of him. Discard the juice – You don’t need it!

Chop Mrs. Sour (kimchi) to teeny-tiny pieces. The green mound on the blurred background is chopped green onion, in case you are wondering.

I am salivating. Are you?

Saute the kimchi with some kimchi juice for 3 minutes. Add tuna and 1 teaspoonful (or more if you desire) of Korean chili paste. Stir and saute for 2 more minutes until the mixture looks somewhat dry. Yes, dryness is what you want.

Add the green onions and a little bit of sesame oil. Toss. Done!

Here it is.

Don’t scroll down to see the rest of the post. All you need is to sprinkle this crazily delicious fried kimchi on top of a bowl of rice and eat. And be happy rest of the day!

But if you must see what Holly has done with it, … please, continue.

This is a plain roasted seaweed packet. Not to be confused with seasoned roasted. Each packet has 10 sheets and you will need just one. Okay, maybe two.

Slice into 8 strips.

Season freshly cooked rice with a couple pinches of salt.

Have you seen a tool like this in Korean stores? This makes the job easy and fun. I think I paid USD $1.50 for it.

If you can’t find one or don’t bother to invest one that will eventually clutter your kitchen drawers, you can use your hands to shape the patties.

The bottom of the triangle tool. Pressing this bottom will help to release rice patties easily.

Put some rice to half way to the container and press down gently.

Place the kimchi tuna filling (about 1 Tablespoonful) in the center. Leave edges & corners unfilled.

Put more rice to the top.

Close the lid. The lid will push down the rice to stick to each other.

Remove the lid and press the bottom to release the patty.

Ta-da!

Let’s cover this naked rice guy with his pants.

Ladies & Gentlemen, here is my friend, “RiceBob SquarePants”

Applause, please!!!!

Dip his head in the puddle of sesame seeds. This will give him some hair. I mixed white roasted sesame seeds with black sesame seeds.

I took a bite of him. I was way too hungry. Nibble, nibble.. yum!!!

This is very delicious, guys!

Then I thought there might be someone who doesn’t want to go through all the trouble building this RiceBob, so I have a quick solution for those. The rice balls!

#2. Kimchi Tuna Rice Balls

Add the kimchi tuna mixture to the rice.

Then mix them up. Add some sesame seeds if you like.

Roll them up in your hands. Whatever size you like.

This time, let’s use different seaweeds. This is the seasoned and roasted seaweeds. My kid’s favorite way of eating rice is just like what the package picture shows.

They look like this. So good to eat with plain rice. My blue eyed nephews and nieces eat them as a snack.

Put them in a plastic bag and crush them madly. Very madly.

Then, roll your rice balls in them. Put the very first one in your mouth. And give yourself a ‘Hooray!’

I think these balls might be perfect to put on Halloween table since they ‘sort of’ carry the spooky black shade to match the Halloween theme. What-da-ya-think?

Now, which one did I like better, the Ricebob or the spooky balls?

I will be honest. I liked the Ricebob better. All because he is wearing pants. Just kidding!

They both had similar taste but I prefer the flavor and the texture of rice and kimchi getting mingled in my mouth rather than all combined when it entered. But seriously, both are good on their own.

I still have lots of kimchi left. Alas!!! I have a bad feeling that I’ll be kimchi-fied in a next few weeks.

Okay, this was one unexpected long post. I’m out now. Thanks for reading!

With kimchi love from my kitchen to yours,

Kimchi Tuna Rice Patties and Balls

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes

Yield: about 8 patties or 20 golf ball size balls

Ingredients

1 cup very fermented sour kimchi chopped
1 (5oz, 145g) canned tuna, drained well
3 tablespoon kimci juice
2 green onion, chopped
1 teaspoon sesame oil
toasted white and black sesame seeds
4 cups cooked short grain white rice
1-2 sheets plain roasted seaweeds
(seasoned and roasted seaweeds for rice balls)

Directions

Saute kimchi in kimchi juice over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add tuna and stir to continue sauteing until kimchi is somewhat soft and the mixture seems a little dry.

Add green onion and heat through. Add sesame oil and stir. Set aside to cool a little.

Season rice with a couple of pinches of salt.

In a rice patty presser, fill rice to halfway up. place a tablespoonfull of kimchi tuna filling over the rice leaving edges and corners untouched. Fill more rice on top to cover to the rim of the presser. 

Cover the lid and press down. Uncover and release the patty by pushing the bottom of the press.

Cut a sheet of plain roasted seaweed into 8 strips. Wrap the bottom of the rice patties with the seaweed strips.

Dip the top of rice patties in roasted sesame seeds to coat.

To make rice balls, mix kimchi tuna filling, 1 tablespoon sesame seeds with rice. Roll the mixture to make small balls.

Crush seasoned roasted seaweeds in a plastic bags until they get crushed into small pieces. Roll the rice balls to coat with seaweeds.

This recipe and image sources are referred in website: Beyondkimchee.com. Thanks so much!