Korean Kimchi Fried Rice

Image of my Korean kimchi fried rice.
Kimchi Fried Rice (with a few leftover mushrooms) and tempeh, toped with a fried egg, sesame seeds and chives from the garden. Photo by PattyCooks.

There are a variety of Korean Fried rice dishes. The term “bap” is Korean for ”rice” and “bokkeum” means “to cook food or food ingredients with little or a small amount of liquid by stir-frying over heat”. So, the first term in the names of these dishes is the name of the most prominent ingredient, followed by rice. This dish is called Kimchi-bokkeum-bap

Diet
[x] Flexitarian + Omnivore
[x] Vegan
[x] Vegetarian
[x] Pescatarian 
[x] Gluten free
[O] Weight Maint
[O] Keto Diet
[O] Mediterranean
[x] Lectin Avoidance
[x] Oxalate Avoidance
[x] Purine Avoidance

Korean Kimchi Fried Rice

A healthy, fermented version of Fried Rice called Kimchi-bokkeum-bap

Rice

  • 2 C Uncooked Rice (White, medium to long grain)
  • Water (In pot up to first knuckle on middle finger)

Protein

  • 1 Pack Tempeh (3-4oz per serving of meat such as: Chicken, Pork, Beef are alternaties)

Veggies

  • 2 C Kimchi (Red Korean is best)
  • 3 Scallion (Sliced)

Cook

  • 3 T Peanut oil
  • 1/2 C kimchi juice
  • 1/4 C Water
  • 3 T Gochujang

Serve

  • 3 T Toasted sesame oil
  • 6 T Toasted sesame seeds
  • 2 Sheet Seaweed paper
  • 6 Eggs

Rice

  1. Rinse 2C raw white rice (medium to long grain) three times, let sit in a bowl of water for 5 minutes, drain and put in a lidded pot. Add enough water to meet your middle finger, first knuckle from your finger tip.

  2. NOTE: Using day old rice is best, just remove all clumps with your hands. If not available, cook the rice earlier in the day and spread out on a baking sheet to cool, flip over a few times to keep it from getting too moist. Critical is dried, room temp rice.

  3. Bring to a bowl and cook for ~5 minutes, then lower to a simmer for ~10 minutes, then turn off heat and let it steam with lid on for another ~5 minutes.

Prep Ingredients

  1. Make sure your hands are clean. Remove 2C of Kimchi, squeeze out all the juice (which should remain in the jar). Chop and make sure you set aside 1/2C of the juice.

  2. Chop scallions into thin diagonal pieces.

  3. Chop Tempeh into small cubes.

  4. Measure out gochujang

  5. Toast 6T sesame seeds in a dry pan, do not burn.

Cook

  1. Put 2T peanut oil in wok. Heat pan and oil and get all ingredients set up in order. Things will move fast now.

  2. Put in chopped Kimchi until heated, add the cooled rice and mix well. Add the water and Kimchi sauce and mix. Now the rice should really take on a reddish hue.

  3. I add the tempeh at this point so it aquires the color as well.

  4. Turn off the heat and add the Sesame oil for flavoring. Mix well.

  5. Taste and add salt, white pepper, more gochujang?

  6. Fry the eggs and serve asap.

Serving

  1. Place rice in a bowl for its form, and flip over onto the mddle of the plate.

  2. Cut up the seaweed sheet into little bits and serve a pinchful per serving.

  3. Top with the fried egg.

  4. Sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds.

  5. Top with the sliced scallions and serve.

This is a complete meal. Sometimes I may add some other veggies that are going bad, but this tastes good just the way it is. In the top picture, the black items are a few mushrooms I had left over.

Some hints on this dish includes using well fermented kimchi as that is THE flavor of the dish.  Best is red kimchi from Korea that has a variety of vegetables, not just cabbage.

If the rice is too hard, warm it up in the microwave and break apart any chunks.This dish is great for using up left over rice. It can be done with brown rice as well, but not my preference.

Always cook the seasoned raw meat before you start to stir fry. Then lay it on the side of the dish. Tempeh I mix in because it tastes better to me that way.

Gochujang is a bit salty, so if you want more spice use Gochugaru. If you want the Kimchi to be stronger, or more sour, add a small bit of rice vinegar.