Dosirak. A traditional Korean lunchbox made of rice, egg coated cooked spam, fried egg, sautéed kimchi and onion with roasted seaweed. This is a quick and easy meal idea ready in 10 minutes with leftover cooked rice.
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What is Dosirak?
"Dosirak" simply means "lunchbox" in Korean. My version of this Korean lunchbox features spam, a fried egg, sautéed kimchi with onion and roasted seaweed over a bed of short grain rice.
It is so delicious, especially when it is mixed altogether like bibimbap. Dosirak is very versatile as you can substitute with other ingredients to your needs.
This Korean food is usually made with pantry ingredients or with leftover Korean side dishes or banchans and served in a gold metal tin box.
History of Dosirak
Back in the day, dosirak was a common lunch meal for Korean students. When they arrived in their classrooms, they would place their metal lunchboxes on top of the classroom heater to keep the food warm.
The metal in the lunchbox was the perfect conductor for heat keeping the food warm, as they didn't have thermoses like they do today.
When lunch time rolled around, the students open their dosirak box, break up the ingredients, close and shake it up to mix the ingredients, creating a harmonious flavor.
Each dosirak varies in ingredients depending on what your parents prepared. A popular version contains sausage dipped and fried in egg, with steamed rice, kimchi fried with onion, fried egg and perhaps some dried seaweed.
There is no one-set way of having this lunchbox. There are even dosirak restaurants that serve this in their menu so people can enjoy this nostalgic meal!
Ingredients & Substitutes
- Cooked short grain rice: or sub with long grain white rice.
- Spam: or substitute with sausage or ham.
- Eggs: to fry and to coat the spam.
- Neutral oil: like avocado oil, sunflower oil, grapeseed oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil or canola oil with a high smoke point. Avoid olive oil that has a low smoke point.
- Kimchi: well-fermented kimchi works best for this dish. To tell if your kimchi is well-fermented, the leaves are more reddish and translucent and less white.
- Onion
- Korean seasoned seaweed flakes: or substitute with crushed seaweed snack or nori strips
- Sesame seeds: optional garnish
Required: lunchbox (use what you have)
Expert Tips
- Don't overcook the spam. Just cook until a light golden brown color so the spam remains juicy.
- Fry the kimchi and onions until softened and most of the liquids have evaporated. If there's too much liquid it can create a soggy dosirak.
- Prepare your eggs any way you like! You can make them sunny side up, easy over, scrambled or even poached in hot boiling water.
- Don't skip the Korean seaweed flakes! They take this dish to the next level as they're crunchy and packed with umami flavor.
- Mix it up well to enjoy! Break up the components with a spoon before shaking up the lunchbox.
Instructions
- Pack your cooked rice with a rice paddle or spatula into two-thirds of the lunch box leaving some space at the top and one the side for the other ingredients.
- In a bowl, beat one of the eggs. Then lightly grease a large pan with vegetable oil on medium heat. Dip each slice of spam into the beaten egg and fry on both sides until light golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Remove the cooked spam and place where there is an empty space of your lunch box.
- In the same pan set over medium high heat, lightly grease with oil. Fry your sliced onions until translucent and softened. Then add chopped kimchi and mix with onions. Cook until the liquids have evaporated. Once cooked, packed the kimchi and onions over the rice into one corner of the lunchbox. Reserve some room for the seasoned seaweed flakes.
- In the same pan over low heat, lightly grease with oil. Then fry your egg sunny side up or easy-over with a runny yolk. Place the cooked egg over the center of your rice.
- Place Korean seaweed flakes next to the kimchi and garnish with sesame seeds over your kimchi and fried egg.
- Break up the individual lunchbox components with a spoon. Cover with the lid. Give it a very good shake until the components mix together. Open and enjoy!
Other Lunchbox Additions
Feel free to add the following as additions or substitutions for your dosirak:
- Canned tuna mixed with Kewpie mayo
- Cocktail sausages or mini sausages
- Other types of kimchi like kimchi radish or pa kimchi (which is green onion kimchi)
- Yellow pickled radish or pickled burdock
- Seasonings like soy sauce, sesame oil or gochujang
- Korean bulgogi beef
- Gyeran mari
- Korean spinach
- Korean bean sprouts
- Korean Zucchini Fritters
Storage
- Leftovers will last up to 4 days stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. To reheat: microwave for 2-3 minutes until hot or reheat in a pan on medium heat.
- Freezer friendly? I don't recommend freezing dosirak since there is a variety of different ingredients and certain ones don't freeze well.
Pairing Suggestions
Dosirak serves well with other Korean side dishes or banchans like:
FAQ
This can be made in advance and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. To enjoy, reheat it in the microwave or in a pan on the stovetop on medium heat.
Dosirak is main with several key ingredients using leftover Korean side dishes and packed neatly into a lunchbox. It's mixed up like bibimbap but it's not the same. Bibimbap, however, features rice, fried egg, sometimes bulgogi beef or spicy pork, beansprouts, carrots, mushrooms, spinach or other vegetable ingredients and paired with a spicy gochujang sauce. It's also mixed before enjoying!
Amazon sells a traditional metal one that I have linked to below but if you have a glass or plastic rectangular lunch box that will work too!
Other recipes you may like
📖 Recipe
Easy 10-min. Dosirak Korean Lunch Box
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked short grain rice or substitute with long-grain white rice
- ½ can spam sliced into 4 pieces
- 2 large eggs one for dipping spam and one to fry on its own
- 2 teaspoon vegetable oil or any neutral oil
- ¼ cup kimchi chopped
- ¼ cup onion thinly sliced
- ⅓ cup Korean seaweed flakes or sub with crushed seaweed snack
- ½ teaspoon sesame seeds garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Pack your cooked rice with a rice paddle or spatula into two-thirds of the lunch box leaving some space at the top and one the side for the other ingredients.
- In a bowl, beat one of the eggs. Then lightly grease a large pan with vegetable oil on medium heat. Dip each slice of spam into the beaten egg and fry on both sides until light golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Remove the cooked spam and place where there is an empty space of your lunch box.
- In the same pan set over medium high heat, lightly grease with oil. Fry your sliced onions until translucent and softened. Then add chopped kimchi and mix with onions. Cook until the liquids have evaporated. Once cooked, packed the kimchi and onions over the rice into one corner of the lunchbox. Reserve some room for the seasoned seaweed flakes.
- In the same pan over low heat, lightly grease with oil. Then fry your egg sunny side up or easy-over with a runny yolk. Place the cooked egg over the center of your rice.
- Place Korean seaweed flakes next to the kimchi and garnish with sesame seeds over your kimchi and fried egg.
- Break up the individual lunchbox components with a spoon. Cover with the lid. Give it a very good shake until the components mix together. Open and enjoy!
Rosemary
Ahh this is such a good lunch idea! I love having lunch prepped and ready to go. I never thought to use egg in a lunch recipe thank you!
Heidi | The Frugal Girls
This is what I want for lunch today. That gorgeous egg you placed on top draws me right in!