Kimchi Crunchwrap Supreme

So, I’m not ashamed to admit that Taco Bell used to be on my weekly rotation of fast food joints before I went vegan. There was a time in my life where I was too busy (and quite frankly too depressed) to care about what I ate. It was the unhealthiest time of my life–emotionally and physically–but also understandable. Fast food tastes good–that’s why it’s so addictive. Luckily, since going vegan, I was motivated to learn out to make my own food that tastes even BETTER and this Kimchi Crunchwrap Supreme is exactly that!

As you all already know, I Koreanize things–even fast food favorites. It is one of the many joys of cooking your own food: you get to make it how you like it! And I like to add kimchi to all the things, lol. Here are the components to this delicious, savory, crunchy Kimchi Crunchwrap Supreme:

• Rice (because of course!)
• Avocado
• Baked corn tortilla
• Omelet
• Caramelized kimchi
• Kimchi Cheese Sauce

I mean… after reading that, how can you NOT want to make this with me?

The Layers

What makes this wrap special is, of course, the kimchi. Vegan kimchi is still a little difficult to come by, but I really love a local brand called 80 Million Kimchi (this was the kimchi I grew up eating–long before I went vegan!), as well as a national brand called Mother-In-Law’s Kimchi (an allusion to the idea that MiL’s kimchi always tastes the best!).

Good kimchi tastes excellent as-is. But, for this wrap, I wanted to up the ante a bit on the flavor side of things. My absolute favorite way to eat kimchi is with a little sweetness and caramelization. In order to achieve that, I saute the kimchi in a little oil and then add some gochujang and maple syrup.

Gyerranmari–or Korean omelet–is a component of so many snack foods. And for this, if you couldn’t tell, I was definitely trying to go with a little bit of the kimbap-Tex-Mex fusion feel, so I thought it would be a perfect component to this wrap.

Here, I didn’t roll the omelet like I typically do. I just made essentially a pancake using JUSTEgg. Because this recipe calls for 2 servings, make sure that the diameter of the omelet is at least 5 inches, so that you can cut two smaller round pieces out of this.

The other cooked component is the crunchy tortilla (hence the name “Crunchwrap”). For this, I used two of my favorite corn tortilla (links in the recipe below), baked ’em off in the oven, and they came out perfectly!

And finally, the last cooked component is the Kimchi Cheese Sauce. If you’ve been a follower of the blog for awhile, you know that I’ve been making this sauce for years and it is always a hit. It’s creamy, cheesy, spicy, and perfect to bind all these wonderful ingredients together.

The Assembly

So many videos and blogs make the whole folding thing look easy. But, after making this twice and failing twice, I wanted to make sure you had realistic expectations when it came to assembling this. As with packing for your summer vacation, the key to this is to NOT overdo it. You will be tempted to stuff the living daylights out of this wrap, but as with your suitcase, if you fill this wrap with too many dresses, you will NOT be able to zip it up.

As you can see, I’m not adding that much rice and I am leaving PLENTY of room around the edge (about 2 inches), which is what’s going to give you the real estate you need to fold the pleats later.

I added avocado to the wrap because I love avocado, you often find it in kimbap these days, and why not add it to this wrap? I did sprinkle a tiny bit of salt over the avocado after adding it. And the only reason I sliced it up with a spoon rather than a knife in advance is because this was my THIRD TIME MAKING this, after the aforementioned twice failed attempts and I was starting to get tired of doing it over and over again, lol.

After adding the avocado, you add the baked corn tortilla which basically acts as one huge tortilla chip in the middle of your wrap. It is delicious.

As you can see, the omelet round is very small. It’s about 2.5 inches in diameter. I tried using a much larger round and ultimately, that prevented me from wrapping the tortilla as tightly as I needed to in order to keep it from falling apart. The truth is, you don’t need very much, so, once again, don’t over do it!

Of course, next is the caramelized kimchi! Followed by the Kimchi Cheese Sauce. And that is it! You are ready to Wrap and Roll!

You start by adding the smaller flour tortilla over the filling ingredients. Here, because I didn’t have two different sized tortillas, I simply cut out a smaller piece out of the large one. I used it to blanket the filling ingredients and then began folding the larger tortilla over it like so:

Continue rotating the entire package until you’ve created pleats all the way around. Afterwards, I press the whole thing down with a small plate.

Then, I flip the plate over and you will have a perfectly tight and contained wrap!

The Cook

Now, this is where things would fall apart–literally. Before serving, you want to toast both sides of the wrap, partially because of the flavor and texture, but also because you want to seal your wrap. But, if you packed the wrap with too much stuff, thus preventing tight pleating, yours will fall apart too. 🙁

You’re going to add a little oil to your non-stick pan over medium high heat and then drop your wrap–pleat side down–onto the pan. Allow it to toast for about a minute before using your spatula to gently flip it.

As you can see, the pleats have been toasted into the wrap, so that it won’t fall apart when you cut into it. This is exactly what you want and again, will be difficult to achieve if you get carried away with the fillings. Cook this for about another minute so you get a lovely golden color on the bottom as well.

Cut in in half to get that $$$ shot and then enjoy yourself a Kimchi-fied Tex-Mex classic!!

Quick Tips on Making Your Kimchi Crunchwrap Supreme

• Do not try making this with small tortillas unless you want really small wraps (like the size of a dumpling). You need to make this with the jumbo burrito sized tortillas.
• DO use smaller corn tortillas (baked) to add CRUNCH in the middle of the layers.
• DO use a smaller flour tortilla at the very top of the fillings to create a “patch” that holds the wrap together.
• Do not add too much filling–less is more, here. You want to make sure there’s plenty of tortilla left around the filling to create very tight pleats.
• DO get creative with your filling! I used the flavors and things that I like to eat!