Korean-Style Beef Rice Balls (Jumeok-Bap)

I decided to try making these rice balls with short-grain brown rice rather than white. I've successfully made sushi with brown rice before, so I figured I might as well give rice balls a shot. It worked okay, but there were some issues with structural integrity. I found that it was easier to make larger balls than the smaller bite-sized ones. The rice also seemed to stick better once it had cooled down a bit. It still wasn't great though. Possibly having the beef mixed into the rice rather than as a filling interfered with cohesion. Or maybe I just didn't get the rice quite right. If you have concerns about getting everything to hold together, you can always just swap out the brown rice for white. As long as it's a sort- or medium-grain variety with a relatively high starch content it should work well.

Korean-Style Beef Rice Balls

Slightly adapted from the Aaron & Claire YouTube channel

Ingredients

Beef

• 300g-350g ground beef
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
• 3 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 carrot, minced
• 1 zucchini, minced
• 1 onion, minced

Rice

• 1 1/2 c. short-grain brown rice
• 1 1/2 c. water
• 2 tsp. seasoned rice vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 sheet nori, crumbled/shredded
• 1 tsp. sesame seeds (optional)

Directions

Beef

1. Season beef with sugar, soy sauce, garlic, and green onions.
2. Heat sesame oil over medium heat and add beef mixture.
3. Cook for a few minutes until the beef is almost cooked.
4. Add the pepper, carrot, zucchini, and onion and cook for another few minutes until veggies have softened.
5. Remove from heat and set aside.

Rice

1. Add rice and water to InstantPot, seal, and cook on high pressure for 20 minutes. Allow a 10-minute natural release. (Or cook rice by your own preferred method, using an amount of water appropriate to the method.)
2. Fluff rice and mix in rice vinegar, sesame oil, nori, and sesame seeds.
3. Stir in 1/2-2/3 of the beef mixture.
4. With wet hands, form rice mixture into balls.
5. Serve as-is or with your favourite sauce. Enjoy the extra beef on the side if you wish.