Ever since we've found out about the existence of gochujang (yes I know we're late in the game), we're very fascinated with Korean food. Today's easy kimchi fried rice recipe is one of the homemade Korean food that we have been enjoying recently.
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What Is Kimchi
Kimchi is a famous, common, and typical food in Korea. It's fermented vegetables with various seasonings and is typically served as a side dish.
The common vegetables that are used in kimchi are napa cabbages and Korean radishes.
The seasonings that are typically used are salted seafood, garlic, ginger, scallions, and chili powder.
Traditionally, kimchi are stored and fermented in jars and placed underground to maintain their temperature during season change.
The kimchi that I bought to use in this recipe came in a can. It was a Korean product.
What I did was drain the juice from the vegetables and only use the vegetables in the recipe. I'm not using the juice in the recipe because I don't want my fried rice to get soggy.
But hey, don't throw the juice. It tastes delicious! We drank it between the two of us.
Day Old Cooked Rice
This recipe is perfect when you have some leftover rice in the fridge, just like in my spicy anchovies fried rice (nasi goreng kampung) recipe.
Leftover or day-old rice works great in any type of fried rice.
Why? Because it's more dry, firmer, and less starchy or sticky when it's cold or left for hours.
Freshly cooked rice on the other hand is just the opposite of day old rice. It's softer, tends to stick and doesn't hold its shape as much.
Tips On Using Freshly Cooked Rice
Having said that, it doesn't mean that if you didn't have any leftover rice or day old rice you cannot make this super yummy recipe.
Let's not have too many rules in our lives, shall we?
Of course, you can make this kimchi fried rice!
Just cook the rice that you want to use and once it's cooked, don't fluff the rice like we would normally do.
Just remove the pan from the heat and leave it uncovered until it's totally cold. It won't even take 1 hour.
Then, simply use it in your fried rice.
What Rice To Use
You can basically use any type of rice, really. Well, except for one, though.
I would not recommend using basmati rice since it doesn't hold it's shape good when we stir it a lot. And with fried rice, we would be doing a lot of stirring.
For this recipe I'm using jasmine rice because it holds its shape great and it's not starchy. I've written a post on how to perfectly cook jasmine rice, and it goes perfectly with my delicious spicy honey chicken.
Brown rice is also good for this recipe.
This recipe is just perfect if you're interested in Korean food and would like to try it for the first time. It's also a super fast recipe that you can easily make during the weekdays. Do give it a try!
In Summary
This easy kimchi fried rice is:
- super fast and easy to make even during the weekdays
- a good introduction to Korean food
- only requires a few ingredients
- make use of your leftover rice, avoid food waste
- simply DELICIOUS!
Video
📖 Recipe
Kimchi Fried Rice
Video
Ingredients
- 1 bulb spring onion together with the green part
- 2 garlic cloves , grated
- ½ thumb sized ginger , grated
- 1 medium sized carrot , cut into cubes
- 8 green beans , cut into ¼ inch (5 mm) thick
- ½ cup drained kimchi (120 gr), roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon gochujang (15 gr) or use sriracha to taste
- 2 tablespoon soy sauce or to taste
- ½ tablespoon sugar
- 3 cup day old cooked rice (480 gr)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
Others
- 2 fried eggs
- some sesame seeds
- some shredded nori
Instructions
- Separate the white and green part of the spring onion. Dice the white part. Slice the green part and reserve for later.
- Heat some oil in a pan on medium high heat. Add in diced white part of spring onion together with grated garlic, ginger, carrot and green beans. Cook until the veggies are softened a bit.
- Add in kimchi, gochujang and mix together well. Next add in cooked rice, soy sauce and sugar. Continue cooking and mixing until everything is well combined.
- Turn the heat off. Sprinkle reserved sliced green part of spring onion together with sesame oil. Give everything one last mix and serve immediately.
How To Serve
- Scoop some fried rice into a bowl. Place 1 fried egg on top. Lastly sprinkle some sliced spring onion and sesame seed. Place some shredded nori on the side. Serve hot.
Best Rice For Fried Rice
- Use leftovers or day old cooked rice for this recipe for better result.
- If you don't have any, simply cook some rice and leave it cool completely uncovered.
- I would recommend using jasmine rice or short grain rice.
- Refer to my post above for more tips and details.
Veggies
- Use whatever veggies you have, just don't use the ones that release so much water like mushroom and zucchini. We don't want the fried rice to get soggy.
Paul says
Simple. I have made it several times using red peppers, asparagus, broccoli and whatever I could find in the fridge. Always delicious. Thanks!
Bea says
That's great Paul! Yes, this recipe is great for using whatever you have. Thank you!
Aga says
Bea, your recipes are awesome! Thank you sooo much! 🙂
Bea says
Happy to know that you're enjoying them Aga! 😍
Billy says
Wow, this picture looks fantastic. Thank you for sharing a video too! Can't wait to make this.
Bea says
Thank you so much Billy!
Rusdi says
I am new to Korea food, thank you for this easy and tasty recipe. We love it!
Bea says
Thank you so much Rusdi! We're loving Korean food 🙂