Kimchi Fried Rice (Bokumbap)

Sorry for the lack of posts! Real life has gotten busy. In the last year I’ve gotten engaged and as of last week, started down the road to buying my first home with my fiance. Between house hunting and wedding planning, food blogging has fallen to the wayside.

But here is an attempt to get back! So I think I wrote about my obsession with Korean dramas recently, and it continues. And because I continue to watch these dramas, every time I see the characters eat Korean food I suddenly crave it. First, it was all about bibimbap, and now my obsession is kimchi fried rice.

Kimchi fried rice is spicy and sour and buttery and oh so good!

I grew up with Chinese fried rice, but never kimchi fried rice, and man, I was missing out! Kimchi fried rice is a good way to use up leftover kimchi, but honestly, I’d buy a fresh batch of it just to make this recipe.

Here is the recipe.

Kimchi Fried Rice

Ingredients

• 1 cup kimchi, drained and chopped (preferably Napa cabbage kimchi [vs. radish or other])
• 1/2 sweet onion, chopped
• 1 Tbsp finely chopped garlic
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 3 cups cooked rice (leftover rice or rice on the dry side is preferred)
• Salt to taste
• 2 eggs, scrambled

Optional:

• Meat of your choice to taste, such as ham, bacon, Chinese sausage, or other.
• Gochujang (hot red pepper paste) to taste for extra spice.

Directions

1. Add butter to a warm pan (not too hot or else it will burn) and when it melts, toss in the onions. Lightly sautee until onions turn a golden color.
2. Add in garlic and saute until a light golden brown.
3. Increase the heat from medium to high and toss in the rice and kimchi, including any juices from the kimchi.
4. Toss all the ingredients together until the rice begins to turn red. Add hot pepper paste to the dish if so desired for taste and incorporate well.
5. Add any cooked meat if desired.
6. Drizzle sesame seed oil and soy sauce on top of the rice and mix well.
7. Add rice and rest of butter, mixing to combine.
8. In a separate frying pan, heat with a little bit of oil, then add the eggs. Lightly scramble the eggs. Add eggs to the rice mixture.
9. Incorporate rice with the eggs, season with additional salt if so desired.

Tags: asian, fried rice, kimchi, Korean, Rice