Kimchi Fried Rice

Fried rice is not a dish that is usually planned ahead of time. It’s a dish you make when you have nothing to eat in the house or want to clean out your fridge of old overly ripe sour kimchi.

At it's core, all you need is sour kimchi and rice but with a few more ingredients, it can be so much better.

If you want delicious, try this recipe. More than anything make sure you have the magic combination of butter, soy sauce and sesame seed oil. Some might be new to the concept but the combo is a classic. When there was literally nothing to eat in the fridge, I would get a bowl of rice, add the magic combo, mix and eat. It’s that good.

The Ingredients

• 1/2 of a medium sized onion
• 1 cup of ripe nappa cabbage kimchi
• 1 TBS of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of SPAM
• 2 cups of cooked rice
  
• 1 TBS of butter
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 1 stalk of green onion
• 1 TBS of soy sauce
• 1 tsp of sesame seed oil
  

Preparation

• Dice the onion, SPAM, green onion and kimchi (in this order so that you chop the most messy kimchi last). While I personally think SPAM is the greatest invention, there are many who cringe at the thought of cooking with it. Instead of SPAM, you can use tofu, ham, chicken or other proteins. However, SPAM is saltier than other proteins so remember to add a bit more salt if you use something other than SPAM. Also, make sure to use ripe sour kimchi. Fresh kimchi isn't recommended for this dish because it leaves a slightly bitter taste.
  

Cooking

• Add the olive oil to a non stick pan on high heat. Saute the kimchi and onion until fully cooked. Then add the SPAM and heat through.
  
• Push the cooked mixture to one side of the pan and melt one tablespoon of butter. Add two cups of cooked rice and thoroughly mix everything together. While day old rice is best because it has less moisture, any type of rice works. Leftover Chinese takeout rice would work well and for those more health conscious can use cooked brown rice.
• Once fully mixed, lower the heat to medium, push everything in the skillet to one side and crack two eggs into the pan. When the eggs begin to set, immediately incorporate it into the rice. Usually, the egg is fried separately and placed on top of the finished rice which is more aesthetically pleasing. But our method eliminates the need to use and then clean another pan. Also, mixing the egg into the rice means you get a taste of egg in every bite.
  
• Turn the heat off, add soy sauce, sesame seed oil and chopped green onion and mix.
• This serves two to three people. Enjoy!
  

Notes

This can easily become gluten free by using a gluten free soy sauce like tamari. Also, believe it or not, according to its packaging, SPAM is gluten free. Also, kimchi should be gluten free, but there may be hidden gluten in kimchi. Some traditional kimchi recipes call for use of rice flour, but people can easily substitute rice flour with regular flour. So, please check the ingredients in kimchi or make your own.