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Last week, a weekly cooking column I write for a Vancouver newspaper turned one—hooray! It’s been an amazing year, and I’ve really enjoyed learning from all of the local chefs I get to interview and cook with. I’ve tried making about a half dozen of the 52 recipes I’ve written about, such as Chris Whittaker’s gnocchi, Alex Mok’s warm quinoa salad, Zach Poole’s Romesco sauce, Wendy Boys’ holiday pretzel mix, and Jackie Kai Ellis’ sticky toffee pudding cake.
I thought that on the anniversary of the column, I should try and make another, and decided on chef Makoto Ono’s kimchi fried rice. I already had all of the ingredients at home, except for the kimchi. Chef Ono taught me how to make kimchi, but I live in a very small apartment and pickling cabbage for three days in a box under my bed is really not an option! Luckily, I live near a Korean grocery store, so I just picked up a jar of deliciously spicy kimchi.
Here is how I made Chef Ono’s kimchi fried rice.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of cooked rice
- 1 onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 stalks green onion
- 5 slices bacon
- 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
- 1 cup kimchi
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 2 eggs
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I always like to prep all of my ingredients before turning on the stove. I just find it much easier to cook this way. Also, then you can usually use just one knife and one cutting board to chop all of the ingredients (and this means less dishes to tidy up).
I didn’t have any leftover rice (Chef Ono recommends using day-old rice for making fried rice), but that’s ok, I just cooked some in my trusty electric rice cooker about an hour before making the fried rice. Once the rice is cooked, unplug the rice cooker (or take the rice off the stove) and allow it to cool a bit. I find this helps dry it slightly, which makes the fried rice crunchier.
Peel and dice the onion, peel and mince the garlic cloves, and finely chop the green onion. Cut the bacon into smaller pieces, and roughly chop the kimchi. Now you’re ready to start cooking!
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In a large pot over medium-high heat, heat the oil. Start by cooking the bacon, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is just-cooked but not crispy. Now add the onions and garlic.
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Cook the onions for about 2 minutes or until they become translucent. Add the chopped kimchi, including any of the kimchi sauce on your cutting board, and stir it into the bacon-onion mixture.
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Now incorporate the rice, using a wooden spoon to break up the lumps and cover each kernel with the kimchi sauce. Reduce the heat to about medium, and keep cooking and stirring the rice for about 5 minutes.
At this point, in a separate pan fry two eggs sunny-side up. I like the yolk to be runny as it mixes really nicely with the rice.
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Taste the rice and add soy sauce and any extra salt to taste. The rice should already be quite salty because of the bacon. Switch off the heat, and toss in the green onion (you may want to reserve a sprinkle of green onion for garnish).
Dish up the rice in two bowls (I found this recipe actually made enough for three servings—or two very hungry people!). Top each bowl with a fried egg, and garnish with extra green onion and kimchi. This was a pretty simply recipe to follow and the result was delicious! I’ve added this to my fried rice repertoire and plan on making it again for sure. Now that I have a jar of kimchi in the fridge, I’ll be looking for some yummy kimchi recipes. Any suggestions?
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