This delicious dish is a real crowd pleaser. Taken from Kylee Newton’s new book ‘ The Modern Preserver’s Kitchen’, it’s comfort food with a kick
IMAGE: LAURA EDWARDS
I grew up with Asian-inspired meals, as my mum was quite an adventurous cook for the time, and New Zealand has a large cosmopolitan culture with a lot of influences from the Pacific Rim.
Therefore, egg fried rice has always been a staple of mine. It’s an easy, go-to meal when I haven’t got a lot of time and that I can make with little energy or thought. Adding kimchi (especially if it’s homemade) makes it extra-special and comforting.
Kimchi fried rice with a fried egg
Ingredients
Fried rice
- 250 g (generous 2 cups) pre-cooked/steamed rice
- 1-2 tbsp vegetable, sunflower or rapeseed (canola) oil, plus extra if needed
- 1 banana shallot, diced
- 100 g (3/4 cup) fresh or frozen peas
- 200 g (7oz) kimchi, cut into 2cm ( ¾ in) pieces
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp kimchi brine from the jar or soy sauce
- bunch of coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Fried eggs (optional)
- 1 tbsp vegetable, sunflower or rapeseed (canola) oil or butter
- 2-3 large eggs
To serve (optional)
- 1 spring onion (scallion), sliced
- Sriracha or other hot sauce
Instructions
- Pre-cook your rice at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours beforehand. This is a great recipe if you have made too much rice the night before, as you want the rice to be drier for frying. For food safety, if you are making it well in advance, cool and refrigerate the rice as soon as possible after cooking, then bring to room temperature before making this dish.
- For the fried rice, heat the vegetable oil in a medium frying pan or preferably a wok over a medium heat. Gently stir-fry the shallot for 4–6 minutes until caramelized – take care not to let it burn. Add the peas and kimchi, increase the heat, and cook for 1–2 minutes. Reduce the heat slightly and add the rice. Stir-fry for 4–5 minutes, adding a little more oil if it’s looking a bit dry.
- Gently whisk the egg with the sesame oil and kimchi brine. Make a well in the middle of the rice and pour in the egg mix. Let it cook undisturbed for 15–20 seconds, then stir it through to thoroughly coat the rice. Taste and season with salt, then stir through the coriander. Reduce the heat to low while you fry your eggs.
- For the fried eggs, heat the oil or butter in a non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat. Crack in the eggs and as soon as you hear them start to sizzle cover with a lid. Fry for 30 seconds, then turn off the heat and leave covered for a further 30 seconds (so they steam). Depending on how runny you like your egg, you can cook them for longer, but the runnier the better for breaking over the kimchi rice.
- Serve an egg on top of each serving of kimchi rice, sprinkled with spring onion and a zig-zag squeeze of Sriracha or other hot sauce.
Notes
– If you don’t have any kimchi, this dish is equally as tasty without. For that bit of zing you could add a mixed tablespoon of cayenne pepper and garlic salt or gochugaru (Korean dried red chilli powder) to mimic the flavour.
The Modern Preserver’s Kitchen by Kylee Newton (Quadrille, £22) Photography ©Laura Edwards
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