Ssam and Korean summers go together like butter and corn :). Growing up, in the summer, I remember sitting outside in our back yard eating Ssam with my grandmother and my sisters. My childhood home was on a hill side, overlooking the Han river. And we were blessed with splendid evening breezes that made being outside so much cooler than inside during Seoul’s hot and humid summers. We often setup a table on top of a bamboo mat outside on the ground in our back yard and had a feast of Ssam with all different kinds of lettuce and greens. In addition to the usual greens like lettuce and perilla leaves, I could sometimes pick squash leaves (호박잎 Hobaknip) so we could steam them and eat as ssam. I have another post about all the different greens used for Korean Ssam or Ssambap that I will post soon after this one.
Having Ssam in the summer was really fun and delightful except when there was studying to do afterwards, it was NOT GOOD.. Because I just got way too sleepy 😴 💤… Well, I’m sure it was partly because my stomach was full but there was actually another reason. I don’t know if you know but it is common knowledge among Korean moms that lettuces -> ssam make people sleepy. So, among Korean moms, it is a definite NO NO to give ssam to kids who need to study for exams, etc. And there’s actually a scientific reason for this phenomenon- “Lactucarium is the milky fluid secreted by several species of lettuce, especially Lactuca virosa, usually from the base of the stems. It is known as lettuce opium because of its putative sedative and analgesic properties.” (wikipedia) But no worries, the Lactuca virosa is a wild lettuce variety and the ones we normally eat has a much smaller amount so at most, it just makes you a little bit sleepy and a little bit happier. 🙂
BTW, here are some young Korean squash leaves I picked from my garden. Korean squash is also called ball squash for their ball like shape.
Many of you may have only seen Ssam eaten with Korean BBQ meats but often times, we ate Ssam with just some Myeolchi Bokkeum (Sauteed Dried Anchovies) or any kind of broiled fish like Pike Mackerel (Kkongchi). One of my earliest post was on Kkongchi Jorim and Ssambap so check the recipe there if you want to try making my Braised Pike Mackerel (Kkongchi Jorim) recipe from canned mackerel.
Whenever I think about Ssam, I think about a story that I heard from my mom when I was little. After the Korean war, my dad worked as an interpreter for the US military stationed in Busan. And my dad heard this story of how Koreans eating Ssam scared the *&!$# out of some US soldiers!!!! What?? Eating ssam??
So, the story goes that a group of US soldiers were passing through a rural Korean town and saw a group of Korean farmers sitting near a rice field, having lunch. And as they came closer to the scene, they saw Korean farmers making a huge ball of green in their hands and then each man stuffing their faces with this huge green ball!!
If you ever have had Ssam, you know that if you get a little too greedy and put too many things in your Ssam, the ssam gets sooo big that it becomes way too big. And once you eat the ssam, your cheeks balloon up like squirrel cheeks stuffed with acorns!! HAHAHA 😂 I certainly had a few times (when I was young and foolish) when my cheeks even hurt a little because my Ssam was way too big for my mouth….These days it’s kind of rare to see Koreans eat this way anymore because everyone tries to be so proper these days.
Anyway, back to the story…so these American soldiers passed them by at first but then they simply could not go on because they were just too worried about these farmers. They had to make sure those men eating huge green balls were OK…if they were still alive and not dead from choking or just bursting!!?? Hahaha… how strange it must have looked to these clueless American soldiers….it must have seemed like these Korean farmers were stuffing themselves to death!!
Below, I offer different combinations of Ssam making recipes along with ways of making ssambap which are pre-made rice rolls wrapped in different leaves. In Korea, you can now find ssambap lunch boxes. This was a great gluten free lunch option for me when I lived there.
To learn more about the history and other info about Ssam, check out this article.
3 Easy Ssam and Ssambap Recipes (as appetizer or as part of Korean BBQ dinner) – Gluten Free
Yields 20 ssambap rolls Time: 40 minutes Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
Rice for Ssam and Ssambap
- 4 cups cooked white rice (short grain Korean or Japanese Sushi) = 3/4 cup uncooked rice
- seasoning for rice
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp sesame oil
Leaves for Ssam (choose any of the following)
- perilla leaves 깻잎 (kkaetnip): fresh or cooked
- green or red leaf lettuce leaves 상추 (sangchoo): fresh
- romain lettuce leaves: fresh
- beet leaves 치콘 (chicon): fresh
- Korean squash leaves 호박잎 (hobakip): cooked
- cabbage leaves 양배추 (yangbaechoo): cooked
- kale leaves: cooked
- collard greens 쌈케일 (ssamkale): fresh
Topping or stuffing for Ssambap
- Tuna with mayonnaise
- 1 can of Tuna (5 oz Net wt), drained
- 2 Tbs mayonnaise
- 2 tsp pickle relish
- Bulgogi Ground Beef
- 8 oz (250 g) ground beef
- 3 tsp dark soy sauce (Korean jinkanjang) or any GF Tamari Soy Sauce
- 1 T rice wine
- 1 T tsp sugar
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 T chopped garlic
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- Myeolchi Bokkeum with mini anchovies (Janmyeolchi 잔멸치)
- see Myeolchi/Myulchi Bokkeum post for recipe
Directions
- Cook rice in a rice cooker. 1/3 cup uncooked rice makes about 1 cup cooked rice so 3/4 cup of raw rice should make about 4 cups of cooked rice. Make rice on the dry side.
- Make Ssamjang using my ssamjang recipe. For kids, try using mayonnaise instead of ssamjang. My daughter loved it that way when she was little.
- Make stuffing/topping for Ssambap (choose whatever topping you want from below) and set aside
- Myeolchi Bokkeum – small baby anchovies work best. Use my Soy Maple Glazed Anchovies recipe to make it. BTW, this is GREAT for kids due to high calcium content. As long as you can get the kids to eat them…haha..
Mini Dried Anchovies for Myeolchi Bokkeum
- Myeolchi Bokkeum – small baby anchovies work best. Use my Soy Maple Glazed Anchovies recipe to make it. BTW, this is GREAT for kids due to high calcium content. As long as you can get the kids to eat them…haha..
- Bulgogi Beef: Season ground beef using recipe above and saute in frying pan on medium high heat until nicely browned and liquid has mostly been absorbed back into the beef.
- Tuna Mayonnaise: Drain liquid from tuna and mix mayonnaise and picked relish. Season lightly with a bit of salt and pepper.
Toppings for Mini Ssambap: Tuna, Anchovies, Bulgogi - Prepare Ssam vegetables for cooking : Wash and rinse greens that you want to cook such as perilla, cabbage, squash leaves, kale.
- Boil a pot of water with salt added (1 tsp for 3-4 quart pot).
- If you are going to use cooked cabbage as ssam material, then prepare a steamer. I used a bamboo steamer and pot that I got from Korea for making Korean rice cake. Using this, I can steam and blanch using the same pot! You can certainly just steam using whatever steamer you have or even just boil in pot with a bit of water. Microwaving will work too.
- First, I steamed the cabbage leaves for about 14-15 minutes until the thickest part is translucent. It should be soft but the thick part should be a little crunchy. If you like softer texture, steam longer.
Cabbage steamed for Ssam - Prepare an ice bath to “shock” the leaves and stop the cooking process when you take the leaves out of the boiling water.
- Then, I removed the top steamer and blanched each of the greens directly in boiling water. Blanching times for ssam greens: Perilla, Kale – 2 – 3 seconds (prob. couple seconds longer if you are blanching larger amount. I was only blanching a handful), Squash leaves – 3 min (longer for tougher, larger leaves). DO NOT overcook them. Overcooking results in mushy and discolored leaves.
steamed kale for ssambap (2 seconds) - Plunge blanched leaves in ice bath for few seconds until completely cooled.
steamed kale in ice bath - Lay out each of the leaves and let water drain in a colander.
Steamed veggies for ssam draining - While leaves are draining, prepare rice by transferring rice to a big bowl.
- Season rice with salt and sesame oil while it is still hot. Stir the rice and let it cool until it’s cool enough to touch but still warm.
- Make rice balls with hands – I made two kinds. Round ice balls and also 2 inch x 1 inch baton shaped ones. Wear plastic gloves to avoid rice sticking to your fingers.
Rice rolls for ssam or ssambap - Make Ssambap rolls as appetizer or for lunch box. Wrap rice balls with various cooked greens. Here are pics of how I made each of my kale, perilla, perilla and cabbage ssambap.
Rolling rice ball in kale for kale ssambap Kale Ssambap Rice Roll Assembling Squash Leaf SsamBap – with ssamjang Tuna Rice Perilla Roll – Kkatenip Ssambap You can stuff these ssambap with any of the 3 stuffings and ssamjang on top or inside.
How to make Perilla Ssambap Rice Roll You can make these ssambap in so many different ways. With stuffing inside the roll or just with rice and then topped with ssamjang. It’s all how you want people to have it.
Korean ssambap lettuce wrap perilla, kale, cabbage, squash leaves - Make a Ssam platter – lay out different fresh ssam greens on a plate and put rice balls in the center of each ssam green. If you can do a double layer of a bitter green and a sweeter green, it makes a great combination. Top it with different toppings of tuna, beef, myeolchi bokkeum and then ssamjang on top of each. Ssamjang goes great with all 3 toppings. Try using rice seasoning like Plumuone Pororo rice seasoning mix with rice to mix things up a bit. I added it to my store if you want to buy it online.
Korean Ssam Lettuce Wrap Platter This Korean Ssam platter can be a great appetizer or as a side to any Korean meal.
Korean Ssam Lettuce Wrap and Ssambap Enjoy!!
Notes
- These ssam/ssambap are great gluten free ideas for appetizers or lunch boxes.
- You can also make jangjorim ahead of time and use it as topping or stuffing.
- For kids, you can also try adding cheese, sweet corn kernels tossed in mayo with ham.
Easy Ssam and Ssambap (Korean Lettuce Wrap) Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked white rice (short grain Korean or Japanese Sushi) = 3/4 cup uncooked rice
seasoning for rice
- 1/4 tsp Sea Salt (Trader Joe's)
- 1 tsp sesame oil
Tuna with mayonnaise
- 1 can of Tuna (5 oz Net wt), drained
- 2 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 2 tsp pickle relish
Bulgogi Ground Beef
- 8 oz ground beef 250g
- 3 tsp dark soy sauce (Korean jinkanjang) or any GF Tamari Soy Sauce
- 1 Tbsp rice wine
- 1 Tbsp tsp sugar
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 Tbsp chopped garlic
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Cook rice in a rice cooker. 1/3 cup uncooked rice makes about 1 cup cooked rice so 3/4 cup of raw rice should make about 4 cups of cooked rice. Make rice on the dry side.
- Make Ssamjang using my ssamjang recipe.
Choose and make stuffing/topping for Ssambap
- Myeolchi Bokkeum (Soy Maple Glazed Anchovies) – small baby anchovies work best. Use my Soy Maple Glazed Anchovies recipe to make it.
- Bulgogi Beef: Season ground beef using recipe above and saute in frying pan on medium high heat until nicely browned and liquid has mostly been absorbed back into the beef.
- Tuna Mayonnaise: Drain liquid from tuna and mix mayonnaise and picked relish. Season lightly with a bit of salt and pepper.
- Prepare Ssam vegetables for cooking : Wash and rinse greens that you want to cook such as perilla, cabbage, squash leaves, kale.
- For cabbages, steam it for 14-15 minutes until the thickest part is translucent. It should be soft but the thick part should be a little crunchy. If you like softer texture, steam longer.
- For other leaves, boil a pot of water with salt added (1 tsp for 3-4 quart pot).
- Prepare an ice bath to “shock” the leaves and stop the cooking process when you take the leaves out of the boiling water.
- Times for blanching each ssam greens: Perilla, Kale – 2 – 3 seconds (prob. couple seconds longer if you are blanching larger amount. I was only blanching a handful), Squash leaves – 3 min (longer for tougher, larger leaves). DO NOT overcook them. Overcooking will make them too mushy and discolored.
- Plunge blanched leaves in ice bath for few seconds until completely cooled.
- Lay out each of the leaves and let water drain in a colander.
- While leaves are draining, prepare rice by transferring rice to a big bowl.
- Season rice with salt and sesame oil while it is still hot. Stir the rice and let it cool until it’s cool enough to touch but still warm.
- Make rice balls with hands – I made two kinds. Rice balls and also into 2 inch x 1 inch baton shapes. Wear plastic gloves to avoid rice sticking to your fingers.
- Make Ssambap – Wrap baton shaped rice balls with various cooked greens.
- You can stuff these ssambap with any of the 3 stuffings and ssamjang on top or inside.
- You can make these ssambap in so many different ways. With stuffing inside the roll or just with rice and then topped with ssamjang.
- Make Ssam platter – lay out different fresh ssam greens on a plate and put rice balls in the center of each ssam green. If you can do a double layer of a bitter green and a sweeter green, it makes a great combination. Top it with different toppings of tuna, beef, myeolchi bokkeum and then ssamjang on top of each. Ssamjang goes great with all 3 toppings.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Happy Summer!
XOXO,
JinJoo
Do you have vegetarian toppings for ssam other than meat
You can just top it with some yellow picked radish (danmuji), vegan kimchi, or marinate shitake mushrooms with the same seasoning as ground beef and use that instead!
Can these be made ahead of time? Assembled and then refrigerated? Making for a party for the opening ceremonies. Thanks!
Yay!! That is such a great idea!! And yes it can be made ahead of time (few hours) but not sure if you want to refrigerate it cause the rice will become kinda hard in the fridge. If your day temp is cool should be fine for few hours. Hope this helps! Thanks!