Vegetables and Caviar on Rice (Albap in Korean)

sue — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 08:16:54 +0000

Albap is a kind of trendy meal that got popular in recent years. I’ve never had this meal at a restaurant before so I don’t know what to expect for its commercial taste. I tried this meal last weekend, twice. At first I cooked it in a hot pot (Dduk bae gi – Traditional looking stew pot), but I really needed two pots for two people. It was a bit hard to mix the rice with other ingredients in the pot I had. So the second time I made it in a bowl instead, which made it a lot easier to mix the ingredients, yet I prefer eating in a hot pot. It seems more authentic and tastes better.

Ingredients for 2 people

(Expected prep time – 5 minutes)

Caviar – 2 tbsp
(oil drained) Tuna – 125 g
2/3 of a peeled cucumber
4 crab sticks
1/3 a capsicum (I used 1/6 each of yellow and orange capsicums)
6 sesame leaves
Radish sprouts – 10 g
2 cups of steamed rice

For sauce (mix these well in a bowl)

Gochujang – 2 tbsp
Vinegar (I used apple vinegar) – 1 tbsp
Sugar (I used dark brown sugar) – 1 tsp
Minced garlic – 1/4 tsp
Plum extract – 1 tbsp

You will share the above ingredients between two people.

Steps (You will need two bowls)

Cut the cucumber, crab sticks and capsicums into small cubes.
Thin slice the sesame leaves.
Put the rice into a bowl.
Put all the ingredients on top of the rice.
Serve the bowl with the sauce.
Enjoy the popping feeling.

Excluding adding the caviar part, it is a kind of Bibimbap. However it looks more luxurious, and you are less likely to tire of it. Caviar is quite expensive, though adding little bits of caviar makes a big difference. I paid about 7000 won (US $7.40) for 250 g.

My Korean Kitchen » Albap

Vegetables and Caviar on Rice (Albap in Korean)