Kimchi Fried Rice with Egg

When I was studying in Vancouver, I lived by myself and I would cook dinner for myself on weeknights. It was cheaper than ordering in and I could avoid the copious amounts of MSG, grease and bad oils that came with delivery food. I'm Chinese, so naturally, I had a rice cooker and made rice all the time. And what to do with leftover rice? Make fried rice! I usually just add in anything I could find my fridge, like eggs and turkey slices from the deli, finishing the rice off with a squeeze of Sriracha. However, for a more decadent but still super easy and quick weeknight dinner dish, I present to you my kimchi fried rice! The main ingredients are kimchi, spam, and eggs. And if you have leftover rice from the day before, this dish will take you less than 15 minutes to make. Take that, Jamie Oliver! 

This dish will amaze you. It is so simple to make and uses such humble ingredients, yet it has a myriad of flavours and textures: savoury crunch from the spam, spicy tangy and sweet from the kimchi, richness from the sesame oil and egg, and that layer of umami from the nori. 

The runny yolk forms a beautiful “sauce” that oozes into the rice, calming the sharp kick of the kimchi. This dish not only tastes good but also looks good. Instagram that #foodporn!

Recipe

Serves two

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for coating rice
1/2 cup cubed spam or sausage or ham
3 cups day-old cooked white rice (or you can cook the rice and put in the fridge to cool down)
1 ½ cup chopped kimchi, plus any juices

1 tablespoon gochujang (this is a spicy Korean paste made with red chili and fermented soybeans. I usually put in two heaped tablespoons for this recipe, but you should start out with one and taste first)

1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 eggs

Nori (dried seaweed), chopped, for garnish

1 stalk scallion (green parts) or spring onion, sliced, for garnish

Method

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan or skillet over medium heat. Add the spam and cook until crispy but not burnt, around 2 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, place the cooled rice in a large bowl and drizzle with a little vegetable oil. With your hands, coat the rice grains with the oil, separating the grains carefully as much as you can without breaking them. 
3. Turn the heat up to medium-high, add the kimchi and juice and stir, until heated through, about 2 minutes.
4. Add the rice and gogujang paste and toss to coat, mixing the ingredients evenly. Stir the mixture around for about a minute to make sure all the rice is colored. Drizzle in the sesame oil.
5. Turn the heat down to medium-low and pat the rice mixture down in the pan in an even layer. Let the rice sit for about 5 minutes. The bottom layer will crisp up and the flavor will be intensified.
6. Add the scallions or green onion into the mixture, stirring to distribute evenly, or leave them as a garnish. Divide the rice mixture into 2 bowls.
7. In a small pan, fry the eggs until the whites have set but the yolks are still runny.
8. Garnish with the scallions and nori.