Fried rice is practically my go-to meal whenever I’m hungry and there’s left-over rice in the fridge (which is seldom because living in a Filipino household, I eat rice at least 3x a day). It’s a very simple dish to make because, I mean– you can’t really go wrong with tossing a bunch of ingredients in a pan with rice (don’t quote me on that).
Nevertheless, I love making fried rice. From all the years I’ve been experimenting with food, I think I have enough fried rice recipes to make my own cook book (yeah, right).
Anyways, what I have here is a recipe that I’m still trying to perfect. I mean, I think it tastes really yummy– not the usual way that Koreans make their kim chee fried rice (I’ve asked a few of my Korean friends how they make their version), but flavorful nonetheless. It’s very simple to make, and if you’re a fan of spicy, I think you’ll enjoy my version of this dish.
Kim Chee Fried Rice, everybody.
Ingredients
2 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. minced garlic
2 tbsp. finely chopped onion
1/2 tsp. Korean pepper flakes
1/2 cup chopped kim chee
1 cup cold, preferably day-old white rice/ or brown.
1 tbsp. ketchup
Sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp. sesame oil
1/2 tbsp sriracha (or even less if you don’t like it spicy)
Little salt and pepper to taste
Chopped green onions for garnish
Instructions
1. Heat a pan with a wide bottom to medium heat. Melt butter and add the garlic, onion, and Korean pepper flakes until soft and fragrant.
(I’m a pescatarian-vegetarian, so I don’t eat any chicken, beef, pork, etc.) If you’re a normal meat-eating person and happen to have SPAM or bacon on hand, please feel free to toss em in there! (In doing so, yours will probably taste better than mine! :))
If you do plan on using bacon, I suggest you start off by rendering the fat which is easily done by adding a splash of olive oil to the bacon in the pan, and letting the heat just melt off the fat. If you do this, please omit the butter.
2. Add kim chee and adjust setting to medium-high heat. Continue sautéing vegetables. I usually like to add mushroom to this also, but didn’t have any on hand. I think it gives it a really nice flavor. Button mushrooms or even shiitake will do, just make sure you chop em’ up real good.
3. To make the sauce, in a small bowl, mix together soy sauce, sesame oil, and sriracha. If you do not like yours overly spicy, please go easy on the sriracha!
4. When the vegetables look like they’re about done (you will be the judge of this), throw in the sauce and keep sautéing. Let it reduce just for a little bit, then add the rice.
5. Make sure to keep constantly mixing and incorporating the rice to the sauce! Your goal is to turn all of the white rice kinda orangey.
6. Taste it, and adjust! Add salt and pepper if necessary.
7. If you want, fry an egg and put it on top! Garnish with green onions, sriracha, etc.
I felt a little Iron Chef-esque today (as you can tell from the pictures). Normally, I would just serve this on a styrofoam plate or just eat it straight from the pan. Although, if you’re wondering, I molded the fried rice using a bowl and flipped it over the plate. I put the egg on top, added a little garnish of green onions, dotted sriracha on the sides, and added pickled cucumbers that I made the day earlier. The hoisin sauce (black splatters) is totally optional. I personally didn’t like it on there. I just thought it looked good.
So I think I’ve said it all! If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!
Happy eating!
Faye Cooks 
