Home » Rice » Ssambap (Korean Rice Lettuce Wraps)

Ssambap (Korean Rice Lettuce Wraps)

Easy Ssambap recipe!

Are you familiar with ssam? Ssam (쌈) means any wrapped food in edible leaves and edible seaweed. If you have tried Korean BBQ meat in some lettuce leaves, that is called ssam as well.

Ssambap

One type of ssam I love is Ssambap (쌈밥).

What is Ssambap

Essentially, ssambap means rice wrapped in leaves. These leaves can be any edible leaves that are fresh or lightly steamed, and also that are large enough to wrap rice and condiments.

Popular leaves include lettuce, Korean perilla leaves, squash leaves, kale leaves, bok choy leaves, cabbage leaves, and napa cabbage leaves.

However, some people also use edible seaweeds such as brown seaweed (미역) and kelp / kombu (다시마) as a wrapper too.

Why is Ssambap Popular

Ssambap is a popular Korean rice dish. I don’t know why but us Koreans love wrapping rice (or anything edible) in green leafy vegetables! LOL

Ssambap can be eaten all year round, but the most popular time is during spring and summer as there are more fresh vegetables to accompany it.

Also, ssambap is known as a healthy diet meal, particularly when it is served with cabbage leaves. Because it makes you feel fuller sooner and longer, so you don’t feel the need to eat as much.

There are also many Korean restaurants specializing in Ssambap too.

They will often have a menu called “Ssambap Jeongsik” (쌈밥정식), which includes various leaves with various dipping sauces, several side dishes, soup or stew and some stir fried meat.

It’s quite filling and delicious! My mouth is watering just writing about it. 😉

How to Serve Ssambap

In its simplest form, you can serve ssambap with some steamed rice, green leafy vegetables and a dipping sauce (known as ssamjang).

To make it fancier, you can season the steamed rice with some salt, sesame oil and sesame seeds as well. (Which is what I did in this recipe.)

FYI, some even more fancier rice is mixed with seasoned dried anchovies or cooked minced beef as well. The sky is the limit!

Also, you can make the whole ssambap experience DIY or serve / decorate as shown in the picture above, which is more work for the cook/host. What’s more appealing to you?

Finally, as I mentioned previously, there are some great companion dishes to serve with ssambap if you choose to go this path. Below are some of my suggestions. 🙂

Meat

Soup / Stew

Side dishes

Last Tips

I think the key point of making delicious ssambap is making delicious ssamjang (쌈장), the dipping sauce.

Because, if you have delicious sauce, you don’t really need any extra side dishes to enjoy your meal. Rice, leaves and the dipping sauce is all you need! Trust me!

Ingredients for Ssambap

Rice and Rice seasoning – Makes about 14 rice balls

  • 2 cups steamed short grain rice (sushi rice)
  • fine sea salt, to taste
  • 1/2 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Wrapper Options

  • lettuce (e.g. baby cos, buttercup etc)
  • perilla leaves
  • kale leaves
  • bok choy leaves
  • green cabbage
  • napa cabbage (yellow leaves, inner part of the cabbage are suitable)

Ssamjang Options

* 1 Tbsp = 15 ml, 1 Cup = 250 ml
** If you want to learn more about Korean ingredients, check my essential Korean ingredients list!

How to Make Ssambap

1. If you’re using fresh green leaves, rinse them well in running water and drain the water well. Depending how you serve, you may want to cut the stem off, so they fold better.

If you’re using leaves that are a bit stiff (e.g. cabbage leaves), you may want to steam them first. Here’s how to steam the cabbage.

  • Peel and remove any tough / damaged outer layers of cabbage leaves.
  • Cut the cabbage into quarters (from a whole cabbage).
  • Cut off the core of the cabbage leaves and cut the cabbage wedge length way to further remove the hard stems.
  • Separate the cabbage leaves from the head.
  • Rinse the cabbage leaves under running water.
  • Boil some water in a steamer pot over medium high heat. Once the water is rolling boiling, add the cabbage leaves into the steamer. Steam the leaves until the leaves are soft, about 10 mins.
  • Remove the steamer from the heat and cool the leaves down for about 5 mins (or until safe to touch) then gently shake off any residue water from the leaves.

How to steam cabbage

2. Combine the rice and rice seasoning ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix them well. If serving ssambap pre-assembled, scoop out some seasoned rice and make it into a bite sized ball.

Seasoned rice for ssambap

Cabbage rolls with rice

3. Serve the ball of rice on a leaf, then top with ssamjang sauce. (You can place the sauce inside of the wrap or outside of the wrap depending how you roll/wrap/serve.)

Korean rice lettuce wraps | MyKoreanKitchen.com

Make Ahead Tips

  • To save time, you can prepare the leafy vegetables, rice and the sauce components all at different times. You can easily store pre-rinsed & spun dried leafy vegetables in a container in the fridge for a few days. Also, the dipping sauce, depending on what you’re making, can last for a few days to up to one month.
  • The rice can be served warm or at room temperature (per your preference), so you can plan it accordingly.

 


Korean rice lettuce wraps | MyKoreanKitchen.com

Ssambap (Korean Rice Lettuce Wraps)

How to Make Korean rice lettuce wraps (Ssambap)
4.50 from 2 votes
Print Pin Rate Save
Course: Main
Cuisine: Korean
Keyword: rice wrap, ssambap
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 14 balls
Calories: 36kcal
Author: Sue | My Korean Kitchen

Ingredients

RICE AND RICE SEASONING

WRAPPER OPTIONS

  • lettuces
  • perilla leaves
  • kale leaves
  • bok choy leaves
  • green cabbage
  • napa cabbage (yellow leaves, inner part of the cabbage are suitable)

SSAMJANG OPTIONS

Instructions

  • If you’re using fresh green leaves, rinse them well in running water and drain the water well. Depending how you serve, you may want to cut the stem off, so they fold better.
    If you’re using leaves that are a bit stiff (e.g. cabbage leaves), you may want to steam them first. Here’s how to steam the cabbage.
    -Peel and remove any tough / damaged outer layers of cabbage leaves.
    -Cut the cabbage into quarters (from a whole cabbage).
    -Cut off the core of the cabbage leaves and cut the cabbage wedge length way to further remove the hard stems.
    -Separate the cabbage leaves from the head.
    -Rinse the cabbage leaves under running water.
    -Boil some water in a steamer pot over medium high heat. Once the water is rolling boiling, add the cabbage leaves into the steamer. Steam the leaves until the leaves are soft, about 10 mins.
    -Remove the steamer from the heat and cool the leaves down for about 5 mins (or until safe to touch) then gently shake of any residue water from the leaves.
  • Combine the rice and rice seasoning ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix them well. If serving ssambap pre-assembled, scoop out some seasoned rice and make it into a bite sized ball.
  • Serve the ball of rice on a leaf then top with ssamjang sauce. (You can place the sauce inside of the wrap or outside of the wrap depending how you roll/wrap/serve.)

Nutrition Info (per serving)

Calories: 36kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Potassium: 6mg | Calcium: 1mg | Iron: 0.4mg

The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Tried this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Rate this recipe with a comment below and tag me on Instagram @MyKoreanKitchen.

 

Filed under: My Recipes, Rice

Written by: Sue

Last Updated:

Photo of author
Welcome to my Korean kitchen! I’m so happy that you're here. I am Sue, the creator behind My Korean Kitchen (since 2006). I love good food and simplifying recipes. Here you will find my best and family approved recipes. Thanks for stopping by!

NEVER MISS A NEW RECIPE

Join 20,000+ other Korean food lovers! Get the latest recipes from My Korean Kitchen delivered to your email inbox. It's free!

I will only send you emails related to My Korean Kitchen. Unsubscribe at any time.

Copyright: Unless otherwise noted, all photography and content on this site is the intellectual property of Sue Pressey of My Korean Kitchen. Please do not copy and/or paste full recipes and images to any social media channels or websites without my prior written consent. This is strictly prohibited. You may however, use a single image and a summary of my article in your own words, provided that proper attribution is given to myself and an appropriate link back to my original recipe. Thank you.

Disclosure: My Korean Kitchen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
Rate This Recipe With Your Comment




14 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

NEVER MISS A NEW RECIPE

Join 20,000+ other Korean food lovers!

Get the latest recipes from My Korean Kitchen delivered to your email inbox. It's free!

Connect

NEVER MISS A NEW RECIPE

Join 20,000+ other Korean food lovers! Get the latest recipes from

My Korean Kitchen delivered to your email inbox. It's free!