Easy Kimchi Fried Rice Recipe (For Dummies 101)

I don’t know why, but I’ve been craving kimchi rice for awhile now. My mom’s good friend was selling kimchi at a really decent price as well, so I thought, why not? Let me try to make my own!

**I made kimchi rice AND kimchi pancakes together, as they pretty much used the same ingredients. That way, I can just prep everything at the same time, and voila – you’ve got 2 meals immediately!

DELECTABLE FOOD FOR THE DAY: KIMCHI FRIED RICE w/ EGG

DIFFICULTY: Very easy, an 8 year old could do it

SERVING SIZE: Good for 5 people – but you may want a side dish, as the kimchi taste can get a tad overpowering

PREPARATION TIME: 1 hour (for beginners)

TOTAL COST: PHP 250 (PHP 50 per person)

INGREDIENTS:

Main ingredients: Kimchi and Rice

• 1 1/2 cups of kimchi (equivalent to ~600g of kimchi) -> bought mine from Momchi (PHP 80 for 400g of kimchi)
• 10 tbsp of kimchi juice (strained from the purchased kimchi)
• 1 1/2 cups of uncooked rice

Sauce

• 4 tbsp gochujang
• 4 tbsp rice wine
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sesame oil

Toppings

• 1/4 of an onion, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 small carrot, sliced into thin strips
• 5 eggs

 

PROCEDURE:

STEP 1: Prep the kimchi

1. Leave your kimchi on the countertop (at room temperature) for ~2 days to give it time to ferment. If you don’t do this, your kimchi flavor might not be as rich and robust as you’d like

2. Strain the kimchi juice from the kimchi

3. Get ~1 1/2 cup worth of kimchi, then thinly slice the kimchi into 1/2 inch strips.

STEP 2: Cook the rice

1. Kimchi rice is traditionally made with leftover rice, but I didn’t have enough leftover, so I just cooked fresh rice. Just make sure to use less water so the rice comes out slightly drier

2. Once the rice is cooked, break it up a bit in the rice cooker and give it time to cool

STEP 3: Prep the sauce and other toppings

1. Dice 1/4 piece of onion (but first, make sure to get rid of the onion skin), and mince 3 cloves of garlic

2. Slice 1/2 a small carrot into thin strips

3. In a small bowl, create your flavorful sauce by whisking together 4 tbsp gochujang, 4 tbsp rice wine, 2 tbsp soy sauce and 1 tbsp sesame oil

 

STEP 4: Time to cook the kimchi rice!

1. Heat a lightly oiled non-stock pan over high heat

2. First place the garlic and move it around till it browns. I like placing garlic for the nice smell. It may not be needed though – I just personally like it

3. Next, place the onion and quickly stir fry over high heat.

**If you want to have meat with your kimchi rice, then make sure to cook and add it in BEFORE you do the next step. As for me, I was ehem too lazy / decided to just go with a pure vegetarian kimchi fried rice.

4. Follow this up with the kimchi, carrots, 10 tablespoons of kimchi juice. Stir fry until the kimchi starts turning soft and deep in color (indicative of the rich flavor developing). As you are still on high heat, make sure to keep moving the ingredients so they don’t become burnt

5. Add the mixed sauce you’ve created (from gochujang, rice wine, sesame oil and soy sauce) and mix well with the kimchi and toppings- around 1 minute

5. Add the rice, and quickly reduce the heat from high heat to medium. Keep stirring until the rice is evenly coated with the seasoning

STEP 5: Cook your eggs – sunny side up!

1. I like my eggs cooked sunny side up, with a runny yolk on top. I find that the yolk tends to balance out the rich flavor of the kimchi. Unfortunately, I had my brother cook the eggs since I thought everyone could cook eggs… I was wrong. APPARENTLY, HE CAN’T COOK EGGS. All the yolks were overcooked… Sorry guys, no photo of nice eggs here.

 

STEP 6: Time to eat kimchi fried rice with egg on top <3