Photography by Sarah M. Park

You may have heard or read so much about how Korean food has finally landed in US and how much it is trending right now, all over the world. Thanks to all innovative Korean-American chefs working their way to introduce Korean food to all non-Korean palette. It makes me so happy and excited to know that most people have either heard or have tasted kimchi by now.  How so many people are interested in learning more about the cultured pickling and the process of fermentation. It also brings me great pleasure letting you all know how kimchi is cooked and transformed into many dishes in Korea. I can definitely tell you that kimchi fried rice is the most classic ‘homie’ form I can think of. I recently got to demo this dish at my latest workshop. Since then, I worked on few things to improve and bring out the bold and savory part of this dish that I was missing all this time. Check out the recipe below, hope you get to try them yourself!

Photography by Selina S. Lee

Kimchi Fried Rice (김치볶음밥) – 2 Servings

INGREDIENT
2 bowls of day-old (or chilled) cooked white rice
2 cups chopped kimchi
1 cup finely chopped bacon – optional
3 finely chopped green onions/scallions
2 eggs
seasoned seaweed crisp (김자반) – optional
semi-dry parsley – optional

SEASONING
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp soy sauce or shim’s savory sauce
1 tsp sugar

PREPARATION
If you don’t have any leftover day-old rice, you can cook rice and cool them down in room temperature. Rice should be cooked more on the dry side. Prepare ripen kimchi by chopping them in small bite size pieces, cut bacon and  green onion by finely chopping.

COOKING INSTRUCTION
1. In a large skillet or wok, add oil and green onion over med-high heat. This will create nice infused oil with sweet flavors from the onion. Add bacon and kimchi and cook it until kimchi is nice and tender (about 10 min). NOTE: If kimchi is on the sour side, you can add little bit of sugar to balance the sourness. Add soy sauce and cook for few more minutes.

2. Add cooked rice and mix in with the kimchi (and bacon) mix by turning off the heat. This will give you enough time to nicely coat the rice without overcooking it. Turn the heat back on high and fry the rest by mixing with the spatula or spoon. Add butter at the end and fry them for a minute until butter is melted in. NOTE: using the side edge of your spatula or spoon will keep the rice grains firm.

3. Make soft-fried egg and serve fried rice with seaweed crisp and dry parsley!