Kankoku Nori Furikake: Korean Seaweed Flakes for Rice

With locations in many countries, “Gyukaku (牛角)” is a popular Japanese restaurant chain dedicated to the Yakiniku barbecue.

The Japanese bbq dish “Yakiniku (焼肉)” has its origin in Korean cuisine, and in the restaurants of Gyukaku too, various Korean foods are served. 

As with Japan, Korea has a custom of eating seaweed known as “nori (海苔)” in Japanese, and the Korean nori is sold by the name of “Kankoku Nori (韓国のり)” in Japan.

Unlike Japanese nori or “Nihon Nori (日本のり)”, Kankoku Nori is generally pre-seasoned with salt and sesame oil, so it is more addictive to me, and I was wondering why Furikake doesn’t use Kankoku Nori.

Gyukaku Kankoku Nori Furikake

As Japanese Furikake rice seasoning usually uses Nihon Nori, I got a little excited when I found this Kankoku Nori Furikake at a Welcia drugstore. Besides, it is a collab product with Gyukaku!

Although the seaweed flakes are fried with three different varieties of vegetable oil (corn oil, sesame oil, and olive oil), the sesame aroma stands out among them.

And maybe you could copy the taste using store-bought Korean nori that’s been salted and flavored with sesame oil, together with toasted sesame seeds.

The dried seaweed flakes are crispy and oily on the surface. They have a savory taste, but corn and olive oils have made it mild. The aftertaste is sweetish and lingers for a while. 

Uses 

The Gyukaku Kankoku Nori Furikake not only pairs well with a warm bowl of white rice, but as seen in the illustration,

the seaweed flakes are also good matches with Tamago-Kake Gohan (rice topped with raw egg), Natto Gohan (rice topped with natto), ramen, nori bento, and Kaisen-Don.

Ingredients