Recipe: Korean Egg Toast / Gilgeori Toast
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I partnered with Bibigo USA to help their audience “travel” through food at home by developing a recipe for a classic Korean street snack. One thing I noticed about the street foods when I was in South Korea last year, was that a touch of sugar was often included in otherwise savory snacks. Even the famous cheese-filled Korean “hot dogs” (a.k.a. battered and fried cheese on a stick that allows you to make the most epic of cheese pulls!) come dusted in sugar on the outside.
Gilgeori toast (which means “street toast”) is no exception. This toast typically involves shredded veggies and egg cooked together into a square and topped with a sprinkle of sugar and a squirt of ketchup or jam; it’s then served rolled up in a slice of soft, gently toasted, buttered white bread, either in a paper cup or wrapped in foil. For this version, I used Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce instead of ketchup, which helped bring together the sugar and the savory ingredients really well. Other variations I’ve seen include adding ham or different types of cheeses, either inside the egg patty or layered on top. This is a great recipe to help use up random scraps of ingredients that you have in your fridge, and it is really fun to experiment to find your favorite combo!
There are other “egg toast” places in South Korea where the toast is actually more like what Americans would call a sandwich, served with two slices of bread in a cute cardboard holder. I decided to make my gilgeori toast look more like those. For those of you who live in the SF Bay Area, I’ve found that the thick milk toast sold at Manila Oriental Market (shown in the photos for this post) works really well for Asian toasts and sandwiches that typically have a soft white bread. Another place I like for milk bread is Andersen Bakery, where they sell whole loaves so you can slice to the thickness of your liking.
I was also excited that this recipe helped me find another use for my little rectangular omelette pan that I bought in Seoul. It is meant to be used to make rolled egg omelettes (typically known in the States by the Japanese name tamagoyaki) but it came quite in handy for making these square egg patties for gilgeori toast. Don’t worry if you don’t have one, though; just pile your ingredients in the center of a skillet or flat griddle and use a pancake turner/spatula to help shape your ingredients into a square.
How to Make Gilgeori Toast
Ingredients
2 slices milk bread
1 large egg
1/2 cup cabbage, finely shredded
1/4 medium carrot, julienned
1 slice (1 oz) ham, thinly sliced
1 scallion, thinly sliced
2 tbsp butter, divided
1/2–1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce
salt, to taste
Procedure
Combine shredded cabbage, carrot, and scallion into a mixing bowl. Add a pinch of salt and gently massage everything together to combine and soften. Mix in ham. Set aside.
Heat a large skillet or griddle on medium heat. Add 1/2 tablespoon butter and allow to melt and coat the cooking surface before adding the bread. Allow bread to toast on one side for about 1.5 minutes or until golden. Remove bread, melt another 1/2 tablespoon of butter, and toast the other side of each slice. Set toasted bread aside.
Crack egg into a separate bowl and beat vigorously. Add beaten egg to the vegetable and ham mixture, and gently mix to combine.
Heat a rectangular omelette pan or small nonstick skillet on medium heat. Melt 1/2 tablespoon butter. Add the egg mixture as one small pile, then use a cooking spatula or turner to flatten the pile and shape it into a square as the egg sets. Cook until the bottom starts to turn golden, about 2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 tablespoon of butter on top, then carefully flip over and cook until the other side starts to turn golden.
Place omelette on top of one slice of toast. Sprinkle sugar over the top, then drizzle Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce. Top with the remaining slice of toast.
Thank you so much to Bibigo USA for sponsoring this recipe! For more recipe ideas and to learn more about their products, visit their website!