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Kimchi Fried Rice
Kimchi Fried Rice
This is the reason why I always make extra steamed rice. It is so much better the next day being used in fried rice. This recipe uses my homemade kimchi. This kimchi fried rice is very versatile. If you want this rice to be vegetarian, omit the bacon and eggs. You can also use other proteins than bacon: ground pork, ham, spam, chicken, tofu, all work really well.
Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 4 strips diced bacon
- 3/4 cup kimchi diced
- 1/4 medium onion diced
- 1 small carrot diced
- 2 green onion finely chopped
- 4 tbsp kimchi juice
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp gochujang paste
- 2 1/2 cups cooked day old rice
- 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
Toppings
- fried egg
- sesame seeds
Instructions
- Brown the diced bacon, but don’t cook until crispy.
- Add in the kimchi, onion, carrot, green onion, kimchi juice, soy sauce, and gochjang paste. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the cooked rice. Mix thoroughly with the rest of the ingredients. Then drizzle the sesame oil over the rice. Cook for another 5 minutes.
- In an egg skillet, heat 1 tbsp of cooking oil over medium high heat. Crack 2 eggs into the skillet. Cook until the whites are cooked without flipping it, 3-4 minutes.
- Top your kimchi fried rice with the fried eggs and some toasted sesame seeds.
Northern Thai Pork Belly Curry
Northern Thai Pork Belly Curry (Gaeng Hung Lay)
If the Morbid Angel song “Hymn To A Gas Giant” from Formulas Fatal To The Flesh had it’s own food, it would be Gaeng Hung Lay. Gaeng Hung Lay is a Northern Thai curry with pork belly, pork riblets, and whole cloves of garlic. It gets’s its influence from Burmese and Indian cooking. If you don’t have time to make the curry powder, you can substitute it for garam masala. There are a lot of steps in making this savory pork belly curry. But believe me; it will be worth it in the end.When making the curry powder, I highly recommend using a spice blender for the whole spices. You can definitely use a mortar and pestle like I did, but it really becomes a pain in the ass. What took 10 minutes to thoroughly smash will take less than 10 seconds in a spice blender. Making the curry paste is quite simple. Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and process the shit out of it. Slowly add water until it form a paste.This curry is a porky goodness. In a large pot, brown all of the pork belly without any oil. The belly will generate enough fat. After the belly and riblets are browned, add enough water to cover the pork. Don’t have the pork completely submerged. It will just take longer to thicken the curry sauce. Adding the tamarind and dark soy sauce will darken it. This is one of a few Thai curries that doesn’t use coconut milk. Instead it becomes a rich brown curry sauce. The last 20 minutes, add in whole garlic cloves and shallots. Garlic Pork Belly Curry Farts!
Servings: 4
Ingredients
Hung Lay Curry Powder
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp black peppercorns
- 2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 2 tbsp coriander seeds
- 2 tbsp cumin seeds
- 1 star anise
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 2 tsp fennel
Hung Lay Curry Paste
- 10 dried red chilies
- 5 garlic cloves
- 1/3 cup shallots
- 1 stalk of lemon grass peeled
- 5 galangal slices
- 1 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp shrimp paste
- 2 tbsp Hung Lay curry powder
Pork Belly Curry
- 1 lb cubed skin on pork belly
- 1 lb cubed pork riblets
- 1/3 cup tamarind juice
- 2 tbsp palm sugar
- 2 tsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 16 whole garlic cloves
- 1/2 cup shallots sliced
- 1/4 cup ginger julienned
Garnish
- ginger finely chopped
Instructions
Hung Lay Curry Powder
- Mix all powdered spices together.
- In a small skillet, lightly toast the whole spices for 3-4 minutes.
- In either a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder, pulverize the fuck out of the toasted spices. After this, I bought a spice grinder.
- Mix the powder spices and the ground spices together. Now you have your Hung Lay curry powder.
Hung Lay Curry Paste
- In a food processor, blend all curry paste ingredients. Slowly add water until it it a well blended paste.
- Your curry paste is now ready.
Gaeng Hung Lay Curry
- Cut the pork belly and riblets into cubes.
- In a large sauce pan, brown the pork belly on all sides.
- Add the pork riblets. Brown them.
- Stir in all of the curry paste. Let cook in the generated pork fat for a couple of minutes.
- Add enough water to cover the pork, but don’t have it completely submerged.
- Stir in the tamarind juice, soy sauce, palm sugar, ginger, and fish sauce. Let simmer on low for 90 minutes. Now it’s time to hit the bong and build up an appetite.
- After the curry has been simmering for 90 minutes, add the whole garlic cloves and sliced shallots. Simmer for another 20 minutes until the garlic cloves are soft.
- Serve with jasmine rice. Garnish with more freshly chopped ginger. All of this work is worth it.
Pork Bulgogi
Pork Bulgogi
Unlike beef bulgogi, pork bulgogi is spicy. Beef bulgogi is more of a soy based marinade using grated pear for the acidity while pork bulgogi is gochuchang based using grated apple. When selecting the right type of pork, I recommend using a fattier cut. Pork shoulder or sirloin will work the best. If you have to slice the meat yourself. partially freeze the meat first. If you don’t, it will be like slicing jello. You want the pork slices to be about an 1/8″ thick. There are 2 ways you can cook bulgogi at home. The first would be to grill the pork. Since it’s below 0 with 50 mph winds here in MN, I pan seared the pork. You want to make sure to not overcrowd the pan. You don’t want the pork to simmer in it’s own juices. You want the pork to sear quickly, as if it was being grilled. For this recipe, I ended up cooking the pork in 4 batchesPork bulgogi can be eaten on its own with rice or it can be eaten in a wrap using red or green leaf lettuce with a perilla leaf. Either way, garnish with sesame seeds and green onion.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 2 lb thinly sliced pork (shoulder, sirloin, loin)
- 1 small onion sliced
- 3 green onions chopped in 2″ pieces
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
Bulgogi marinade
- 6 tbsp gochuchang paste
- 1 tbsp gochugaru pepper flakes
- 3 tbsp light soy sauce
- 3 tbsp rice wine
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tbsp minced ginger
- 1 small apple grated
Instructions
- Mix all marinade ingredients together. Set aside.
- Thoroughly mix the marinade in with the pork, onion, and green onion. If you have kitchen gloves, I’d recommend mixing this by hand, making sure that both side of the pork are marinated. Let marinate for at least 4 hours, preferably over night.
- In a large sauté pan on medium high heat, add 2 tbsp of sesame oil. Add the pork in batches to the pan, shaking off any excess marinade. You don’t want to overcrowd the pan or the pork will simmer in it’s own juices instead of searing quickly. Cook for 2 minutes on the first side.
- Flip the meat to the other side. Cook for another 2 minutes.
Garnish with sesame seeds.
