Kimchi fried rice
Tangy, spicy kimchi fried with crispy Spam and rice, topped with a runny-yolk egg, the dinner you can make from the back of the fridge.
- 25 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 2
- About $4.17 a serving
- 780 calories
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: I’d make this on a weeknight. It’s on the table in 25 minutes.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 1 cup kimchi, plus 2 tablespoons of its juice
- 6 oz spam, half a can
- ½ yellow onion
- 1 tbsp gochujang
- 3 cups microwave rice pouches, or leftover cooked rice
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 large eggs
- 2 stalks green onions, sliced
- 1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)
- 1 nori sheet, torn (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp soy sauce
Each serving has about 780 calories, 26 g protein, 78 g carbs and 41 g fat, and costs about $4.17 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Snip the kimchi into small pieces with kitchen scissors, right in a bowl, and save its juice. the Spam and the onion.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Heat the oil in a large nonstick over medium-high and cook the Spam 3 to 4 minutes, until on a few sides.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Food safety: Rotisserie chicken, deli meat, canned tuna and cooked shrimp are already cooked. Keep them cold until you use them, and heat them until steaming hot if the recipe warms them.
Add the onion and kimchi and 3 to 4 minutes, until the kimchi softens and its edges start to .
Stir-fry. Stir-frying means cooking small pieces fast over high heat in a little oil, stirring almost constantly. It moves quickly, so have everything chopped and ready before the pan gets hot.
How you’ll know: It sizzles loudly the whole time, and the vegetables turn bright and tender-crisp in minutes.
Caramelize. Caramelizing means cooking slowly until the natural sugars turn deep golden brown. It turns sharp onions soft, jammy and sweet, and it often takes 30 minutes or more.
How you’ll know: They’re soft, sticky and amber brown, and they taste sweet rather than sharp.
Medium-high heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Frying the kimchi first mellows the sourness and makes it taste deeper.Stir in the gochujang, sugar and the saved kimchi juice for 30 seconds.
Medium-high heatTimer: 30 sec
Add the rice and 3 to 4 minutes, pressing out clumps, until it’s evenly red and hot. Stir in the soy sauce and sesame oil.
Stir-fry. Stir-frying means cooking small pieces fast over high heat in a little oil, stirring almost constantly. It moves quickly, so have everything chopped and ready before the pan gets hot.
How you’ll know: It sizzles loudly the whole time, and the vegetables turn bright and tender-crisp in minutes.
Medium-high heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Divide the rice between two bowls. Fry the eggs in the same pan over medium, with a drizzle more oil if it looks dry, 3 minutes, until the whites are set, the yolks are still soft and the edges are .
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min
Food safety: Soft yolks are a small risk. If you’re pregnant, or cooking for small children or older people, cook the eggs until the yolks are firm, or use pasteurized eggs.
Top each bowl with an egg, green onions, sesame seeds and torn nori, and break the yolk into the rice as you eat.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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