Large Portion Kimchi Fried Rice
In Asia, fried rice in general are consumed as a part of a meal, companied by a lot of other dishes. But in everyday life, we don’t necessarily have time and energy to cook a multi-dish meal. So we created this nutritionally balanced kimchi fried rice recipe, perfect for a large portion one-dish meal.
Few tips to help you cook fried rice like an experienced:
Rice: best rice to use is leftover rice, as extra moisture are dried out so it’s less likely to stick to your pan/wok. If you are cooking rice from fresh, add less water than usual, and let rice cool down before frying.
Use multi-grain: You can mix few grains together to increase grain variety, and most grains have dryer texture than rice so it also help keep the rice portion dry. In this recipe, we used half rice half quinoa.
Wok/pan: we recommend to use a non-stick or cast-iron wok/pan if you don’t make fried rice often.
Temperature: try to keep the wok/pan temperature high throughout frying, especially before adding new ingredients (you should hear the sizzling sound if the temperature is high enough).
Mise-en-place: prep all the ingredient before frying, so your full attention is inside the wok/pan
Salt/soy sauce: as kimchi are high in salt(sodium), you might not need any other salty seasoning.
Recipe
Serves: 2
Time: 20 minutes (excluding cooking rice)
Skill required: tearing, chopping, frying, keeping an eye on the stove
Equipment: 1x large frying pan/wok, 2 small-medium bowls, spatula, knife and chopping board.
Ingredient list
75g cabbage (tear to pieces)
1 shallot (finely diced)
1 spring onion (finely chopped)
1 clove garlic (minced)
handful (75g) oyster mushroom
1 medium (~150g) chicken breast (diced; optional)
50g dried kimchi (chopped)
2 cups (400g) leftover rice + quinoa (or any grains)
splash (~20mL) rice wine
juice from 50g kimchi
1tsp sesame oil
eggs (optional)
seaweed (optional)
Methods
On medium heat, fry the cabbage in a non-stick pan/wok to the texture of your liking (3-5 minutes), and set aside.
Turn to high heat, add oil to the same pan/wok, fry shallot, spring onion, oyster mushroom, garlic until mushroom shrinks and softens transparent (~2-3 minutes).
Add in chopped kimchi, fry for 1 minutes
(optional) add in diced chicken breast, and fry until all chicken is cooked (~3 minutes)
Add in rice+quinoa, stir until incorporated
Splash in rice wine, stir and allow all alcohol to evaporate.
Add kimchi juice, stir and evenly coat all ingredients, then add cabbage back in and stir evenly. Add sesame oil before serving.
Dietitian’s Tips
Modify the portion by adjusting the amount of cabbage, oyster mushroom and chicken.
Remove chicken or swap to diced tofu to make it vegetarian.
Choosing grains: other than (brown) rice and quinoa, you can also choose wild rice, amaranth, bulgur.
Add a sunny-side-up and sprinkle some seaweed flakes for restaurant-quality kimchi fried rice.
You can add gochujang between steps 5 and 6 for a richer colour and flavour.
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Malcolm is an Accredited Practising Dietitian, Provisional Sports Dietitian, trained eating disorder dietitian and founder of Timeless Dietetics. He is passionate about promoting a flexible style eating that balances health, goals and life enjoyment.