Kimchi Fried Rice

Hello fellow foodies! It’s been a while since I’ve posted a recipe on my blog, hasn’t it? Today, I thought I would share with you all a quick and easy Korean dish made of simple ingredients. Shall we get into it?

I thought I would start posting more easy recipes as my brother will soon be graduating from high school. He loves to eat Hot Pockets and instant ramen, so the family fear is that those are the only things he will eat when he moves out of the bird nest. Since he doesn’t know how to cook for himself nor does he particularly enjoy it, I figured he — and possibly you too — could use this blog as a reference point for simple and quick recipes.

If you’re unsure what kimchi fried rice is, it is simply pan-fried rice with kimchi as the key ingredient. Kimchi is a Korean food staple that comes in many variations but the most versatile is made from napa cabbage. It is also the one we’ll be using today! This spicy recipe takes around 10 minutes to complete and can be altered to suit your taste buds and lifestyle. In this recipe, I’ll be showing you a tuna version, but alternatively, you could use Spam, ham, sausage, or if you’re a vegan or vegetarian, opt out of including a meat in this dish. It tastes great either way! I’ll also be adding some cheese to this dish but if you don’t like cheese or are lactose intolerant, you could opt out of including this as well.

For this recipe, you will need:

• Rice
• Napa cabbage kimchi
• Yellow onion
• Egg
• Butter
• Can of tuna
• Mozzarella cheese

If you’re not sure where to buy kimchi, Korean and many other Asian grocery stores carry it. I have also seen it being sold at my local Costco and Grocery Outlet.

The first step is to chop up the kimchi and onion into bite-sized pieces. I’ve placed my chopped up vegetables together in a bowl and set it off to the side.

Next, heat your skillet or frying pan on medium heat and spread a small amount of butter around the surface of the pan.

Once your butter is completely melted, add steamed rice, breaking and stirring it around. I used instant, microwavable brown rice because that is all I had at the time, but you could also use freshly cooked or leftover white rice. If you don’t have a rice cooker or don’t know how to cook rice in a pot, you can buy the previously mentioned instant rice, which cooks by microwaving for 90 seconds. I’ve seen the instant rice sold in white, brown, and black rice versions so use whichever one suits your taste!

Next, after you have evenly spread the rice around the pan, you will want to add in the chopped up onions and kimchi. Remember to stir so you don’t burn the food! Keep stirring until the onions and kimchi have mostly cooked all the way through. Heat will continue to cook the food as you do the next steps.

Next, add the tuna. As I mentioned before, you can substitute the tuna with other meat such as Spam, ham, or sausage, or just forgo the meat altogether.

Since the tuna is precooked, you don’t have to cook it for a long time, just enough to heat it up. Stir the fried rice so that all the ingredients are evenly incorporated.

I find that napa cabbage kimchi goes really well with mozzarella cheese. The spiciness of kimchi and the savoriness of mozzarella complement each other very well. I like to add some mozzarella to my kimchi fried rice, but if you don’t eat cheese or are lactose-intolerant, feel free to omit it!

Yum! Spicy, cheesy goodness!

For the finishing touch, fry an egg how ever you like. I’m frying mine sunny-side up! Again, if you don’t like eggs or are a vegan, feel free to omit this from your dish. It tastes great without as well!

Plate up your kimchi fried rice and egg, and enjoy!

If you found this recipe post to be helpful, please let me know by pressing the “like” button below! If you want to stay updated on future recipes, make sure to click the “follow” button at the top of the page, right-hand side. If you’d like to see my recipe for a healthy fruit yogurt dessert, click here. Other than that, I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below! Does this sound like a dish you’d be willing to make? If you have tried it, what were your thoughts on it?

Thanks for reading! Until next time~

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