The next time you're in the mood to make some classic Koreancomfort food, don't forget about kimchi fried rice. It's a simple, deliciousdish you can make with kimchi, rice, and a few other flavoring ingredients fromyour favorite Asian grocery store.When you combine the ingredients with finesse as you make this quick dish,you'll have a flavorful batch the entire family will love. It's an ideal optionduring busy times when you need a high-flavor but low-effort entrée that is acomforting meal to enjoy at home. It's a perfect way to use up extra rice andoverripe kimchi you might have as leftovers.
The mature kimchi is ideal for this dish, thanks to itsjuices produced by the fermentation of natural sugar into lactic acid. It givesthe kimchi a sour flavor that is rich and enjoyable. If you want to make avegan version, skip the egg on top at the end. But keep an eye out for thekimchi itself, which can sometimes contain brine shrimp or fish sauce. But thegood news is that by reading the label, it's not hard to find kimchi that isvegan-friendly. On the flip side, you can add meat or tofu to your dish if youprefer. Chopped-up sausage or bacon work well if they are on hand, as doescrumbled tofu.
Because the kimchi itself is loaded with flavor, this dishdoesn't require a long list of ingredients. When you check some popularrecipes, you'll see they're not complicated. The trick to making it exceptionalis the technique you use; it matters a lot. To start, squeeze the juice out ofthe kimchi and measure it. While it might sound like an added step because youre-add the juices later, it helps you have the optimal amount of juice for thedish – not just the amount that coincidentally occurs in the kimchi. Also, thesqueezed (drier) kimchi picks up flavors as you caramelize it during frying.
Some celebrated chefs also recommend drizzling sesame oilover the rice before you begin frying it. It gives the rice an excellent nuttyflavor and keeps the grains separated, not clumpy. Fry the kimchi before therice so that some flavor is released into the pan. Once you add the liquidingredients, continue tossing and frying the rice until it evaporates – thenall you have left on the rice is the delicious flavoring. If you let the ricebecome quite brown, it picks up more flavor and looks even better. At the veryend, add an egg, sunny side up, to give a final twist of flavor and make thedisk appear complete.
