For many Koreans, toasted sandwiches are a true nostalgic treat

The sweet-and-savoury cabbage egg patty gilgeori is a core childhood memory for Korean chef Chung Jae Lee. And today, he is reinventing toasties that evoke the taste of Korea.

Gilgeori toast (Korean street food toast with egg and lettuce). Source: Chung Jae Lee

For Seoul-born restaurateur Chung Jae Lee, toasted sandwiches involving cabbage offer a taste of home like nothing else.

"The main food staples that made up our meals growing up were rice, miso soup, kimchi and seaweed," says Lee. "But a few times a month, my mum, Soon, would buy white sliced bread, she would always make us gilgeori toasted sandwiches as a late afternoon snack." 

Gilgeori toast is a popular sweet-and-salty egg fried sandwich sold by street vendors in Korea. But for those who grew up there, it's also a nostalgic snack, reminiscent of childhood home cooking, usually a rare treat on the occasions there was bread in the house.        

Any leftover bread would become gilgeori for breakfast the next day. "She would cut [it] up in squares and serve [it] in a takeaway paper cup for me to indulge in on my way to school," he says.

Source: Jiwon Kim

Today, he experiments with other flavours in his toasted sandwiches too – whether it's adding Vegemite or topping it with mayonnaise for an Australian twist, or a bit of chilli or kimchi. As evidenced in his delicious kimcheese toastie which he made in his appearance on Season 8 of The Cook Up with Adam Liaw.

It's gilgeori though that he keeps going back to when nostalgia hits.

His mum's recipe was a basic version. She put margarine in a pan and fried the bread until golden. Then she added finely chopped cabbage, a pinch of sugar and eggs. After this, she transferred the mixture to the bread and topped it with tomato sauce.

Chung Jae Lee with his family. Source: Chung Jae Lee

As a teenager, Lee couldn't get enough gilgeori. "After middle school, I would be so hungry that I couldn't resist the smell of the sandwich coming from the food truck vendors on the streets, and I would eat one as I waited for the bus – and even buy a second one for the bus trip home," he says.

As a university student, he got it for breakfast on his way to class. In the late 80s, he combined it with flavoured milk.

Chung Jae Lee. Source: Chung Jae Lee

"Through the decades, the sandwich ingredients have evolved due to western influences, and by the time I reached university, gilgeori was richer in sweetness and saltiness, as more sugar and butter were added, [as well as] meats like ham, schnitzel and sausage."

The toastie's flavour was also enhanced by different cheeses and toppings like mayonnaise.

Lee says it even began to look different. "They now make the omelettes in a square shape to exactly match the [shape of the] sliced bread."

I would be so hungry that I couldn't resist the smell of the sandwich coming from the food truck vendors on the streets.

When Lee moved to Adelaide in the early 1990s, he didn't see much Korean food, so as a self-taught chef, he started a Korean street-food catering business that served gilgeori. His customers loved it. He then went on to open his first mainstay called Mapo. Currently, he is the owner of Seoul Sisters in Adelaide, which offers Korean basics with twists to suit the Australian palate.  

Try your hand at gilgeori toast. Source: Chung Jae Lee

"Today I probably make gilgeori sandwich once a month for my daughter's school lunch or when my in-laws come to visit, sticking to my mum's traditional recipe, which has less sugar and butter for a healthier version," says Lee. "But I do add ham and cheese as they're considered the basis of a good toastie."

"I guess when the girls ask for gilgeori, as a dutiful dad, I will make it, but I love it when they do, as it does bring back memories and I get to eat it too."

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Gilgeori toast sandwich

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 4 slices white sandwich bread
• 4 eggs
• 1 carrot
• 1 spring onion, sliced
• ½ cabbage, shredded
• 1 tsp white sugar 
• Pinch salt and pepper

Method

1. Combine the eggs, vegetables, sugar, pepper and salt in a bowl.
2. Heat 2 tbsp of margarine in a frying pan.
3. Add the bread, toasting both sides until slightly crispy.
4. Remove the bread from the pan.
5. Add a little more margarine to the pan and cook the egg mixture, doing the best you can to create a square omelette.
6. Lay 1 piece of toast on a plate and gently lay the omelette on top.
7. Add a slice of cheese or ham topped with ketchup and mayo for taste (optional).
8. Put the second piece of toast on top.

Photos courtesy of Chung Jae Lee.