This is a simple dish of rice fried in Korean style. It is just one of numerous other Korean dishes which takes advantage of the range of seasonings and flavours of the traditional fermented vegetables – kimchi – to enhance the flavours. The sour, at times spicy, taste of the preserved vegetables works wonders at making this an easy meal to chew on and digest. The bright red colour of the rice also helps to open up one’s appetite at the meal.
Be warned though, a packet of good kimchi costs a lot, especially since these are imported fresh from overseas. Get ready to spend at least S$8 on a pack. Do remember to get those that have already been fermented for at least a week too!
Ingredients:
- Oil: 1 tbsp + 2tbsp
- Egg: 4
- White onion: 1, finely chopped
- Old fermented kimchi (+ juice): 500g
- Shitake mushroom: 200g, roughly chopped
- Unsalted butter (optional): 1 tbsp
- Red pepper paste (gochujang): 1 tbsp
- Cooked rice: 4 bowls (from 3.5 cups of uncooked rice)
- Korean sesame oil: 1 tbsp
- Korean seaweed: 1 piece, cut into strips
- Scallion: 1 stalk, chopped
- Sesame seeds: 1 tbsp
Method:
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in pan. Fry 4 eggs, sunny side up. Set aside.
- Heat another 2 tbsp oil in wok. Fry onions till translucent.
- Add kimchi, kimchi juice (from the packet) and mushrooms. Stir fry for 1 min.
- Add butter and red pepper paste. Fry and mix till butter has melted.
- Stir rice into the mixture. Add sesame oil and leave to fry for 2 min more.
- Serve into 4 separate bowls. Place one egg on top of each bowl of rice.
- Garnish with seaweed, scallion and sesame seeds to serve.
Disclaimer:
- There isn’t a need to add in additional condiments such as salt or sugar. The taste of this dish should come directly from the kimchi itself, which makes it all the more important to get quality kimchi to fry the rice with.
Serving:
4 persons
Looks real good.
Thanks Saburo! 🙂