Peach and Spam Gimbap
The saltiness of spam combines perfectly with sweet peach in this fresh gimbap roll! A little mint and mozzarella make it a great late summer lunch or snack! I dipped these in several different things, just to see what would work best, and the winner was a mayo infused with chili crisp. The creamy spicy flavor brought everything together!
The inspiration for this recipe
I am obsessed with peaches and in August in Georgia the season feels so fleeting that I need to put peaches on everything! I made a deep dish pizza with them recently but wanted something that tasted fresher. Gimbap came to mind, and I went through a handful of meat ideas I could use. Once I thought of spam all it took was a race to the grocery store to make this gimbap loaded with peach and mint!
Make the rice first
I have been a little hesitant to make sushi or gimbap recently because I haven’t been great at making the rice. I finally got a rice cooker and it has really upped my game with all types of rice, but especially sushi rice! Rinse the rice first, then soak it, then cook it. After it cooks, toss with some sesame oil, sugar, salt, and vinegar and allow it to cool before using.
Prepare the spam
Cut planks from the mozarella, spam, and peach. Then sear the spam to get crispy on all sides.
Roll the spam and peach gimbap
Once everything is ready, gather it all around the sushi mat. I tossed the mozzarella in some tajin to add a boost of flavor too.
Rice first, then mint. Spam and peach next, then the mozzarella. Then it’s time to roll! Roll the peach and spam gimbap as tight as you can, allowing the sticky rice to help hold it together.
Then slice the peach and spam gimbap into bite sized pieces.
Serving the peach and spam gimbap
To make the dipping sauce, just mix the mayo and chili crisp together. Add the sliced peach and spam gimbap to a plate with the dipping sauce, then garnish with more tajin.
I was excited to eat, but after my first bite I was even more excited! They came out so good and the contrast between the salty spam and the sweet complex peach is just what I was looking for!
Twists on this recipe
The mozzarella in this peach and spam gimbap seems like it gets lost a bit, but I had one without, and it felt like it was missing something, so I kept it in in the final version. Besides that, I felt like this roll was pretty perfect. You could swap the spam for ham if you wanted. Bacon would also be great. Or you could leave the meat out altogether and it would be more like a peach mozzarella salad roll.
For more info on making classic gimbap, check out this recipe!
Peach and Spam Gimbap
Equipment
Ingredients
Rice
- 1.5 cups sushi rice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
Rolls
- 1/2 can spam sliced into planks
- 3 ounce fresh mozzarella sliced into planks and patted dry
- 1 tablespoon tajin seasoning plus more for garnish
- 1 ripe peach sliced into planks
- 20 mint leaves
- 2 sheets nori
Sauce
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 1 tablespoon chili crisp
Instructions
- I made this for 2 people but if you are skilled and familiar with rolling gimbap, it probably will be enough for 3. I did 2 so there would be extra rice and spam just in case.
Make the rice
- Put the rice into a bowl and fill with water. Move the rice around to make the water cloudy. Strain the rice and repeat 2 more times.
- Add the rice to a rice cooker with 2 cups of water. Wait about 30 minutes, then turn it on to cook the rice.
- While the rice cooks, whisk together the sesame oil, salt, sugar, and vinegar.
- Dump the cooked rice into a large bowl and drizzle in the sauce. Toss the rice with the sauce for a few minutes, being gentle to not smash up the rice. Allow to rest for 30 minutes to cool, stirring occasionally.
Prep the fillings
- Bring a pan to high heat with some oil and add in the spam planks. Cook to crisp on all sides, about 10 minutes total.
- Add the tajin seasoning to the mozzarella and toss to coat.
- Optional- if you have a gas stove, you can turn a burner on and wave a sheet of nori over the burner quickly to prepare it to be rolled.
Make the rolls
- Place the nori onto a sushi mat and spread the rice onto the nori in a thin layer.
- Add the mint first, then the spam and peaches. Next add the mozarella. Refer to photos for help if needed.
- Tightly roll the kimbap, then cut it into slices.
- Stir the mayo and chili crisp to form the sauce. Serve.