Kimchi Cheese Jumeok-bap (주먹밥)

At first I thought it was onigiri, but kimchi isn’t Japanese. The rice ball (actually a triangular shape) reminds me of fond times watching anime in my young adulthood. I love mine with umeboshi, or grilled with soy sauce. But Koreans have taken it to the next level of umami. They added cheese! Wild! Who would’ve thought to stuff a rice ball with cheese? And not just any rice; it’s rice mixed with a spicy, flavorful kimchi. It’s pure genius.

Since I first spotted it in the freezer section at e-Mart in Gangnam, I’ve bought a pack every time we went grocery shopping. Each rice ball is perfectly formed and individually wrapped. They never last long in the freezer at home because I can’t stop at just one. I swear they’ve laced it with some addictive additive.

They’re fast and convenient. Two minutes in the microwave, and breakfast is served. (Somehow, I don’t know why, my brain has classified it as breakfast food.)

The cheese is an ooey-gooey mild variety, similar to mozzarella. I would like to see other types of cheese stuffings. Why stop at mozzarella? I think taleggio would be adventurous. Doesn’t rice mixed with gochujang (red pepper paste) and stuffed with taleggio sound interesting? If I could buy some taleggio here, I’d try it.

Problem is, we have only three and a half weeks left in Seoul and we have a huge backlog of food in the fridge. I’m hesitant to buy more. We have a serious food hoarding problem, and this isn’t even our house! So I’ll save that recipe idea for another day. Maybe when I’m in Paris, craving Asian food.