Have you heard of Korean Bibimbop, Korean Bulgogi Taco, or Kimchi-Bulgogi Hot Dog? If you live in New York, you might have at least heard of them. (I noticed almost a lot of New Yorkers are foodies!) There is a rise in popularity of Korean food especially among New Yorkers. Even some of the most popular fine dining restaurant chefs are intrigued by it. They visit South Korea to taste the real Korean food and get inspired. It used to be only Korean Americans and Korean international students in NYC who enjoyed a yumminess of Korean food at restaurants in K-Town. This is no longer the case. We see more and more fine dining restaurant chefs who started to experiment with it and add some Korean flavor to their dish.
One of the most common dishes in Korea is Kimchi. It’s not even a dish itself. It’s more like a side dish you can have with your main dish. Kimchi goes well not just with Korean dishes but also with American, Japanese, Chinese, French… you name it. You can eat Kimchi separately as a side dish or use Kimchi as one of the ingredients for your dish. I personally like both. Yummm!
My favorite Korean dish which has Kimchi in it as an ingredient is Kimchi Fried Rice.
I’m a huge fan of fried rice. I love Japanese,Chinese, Thai, and even Vietnamese versions of fried rice. Fried rice is the best.Asian.food ever. With Kimchi in it, it gets even better.
When you eat a typical Asian fried rice (as a main dish), you often need some side dishes or other main dishes to eat with it because fried rice itself is not salty, sweet, or spicy. You need something to spice it up a little bit. Kimchi is the best ingredient for this!
Before you start cooking fried rice, start with Kimchi. Cut Kimchi into small pieces and put them all into your pan. (Heat the pan, add the oil, as usual.) You stir fry them until they start changing their color (between red and brown). Then, you add all other ingredients into the pan and make fried rice as you did before. You can also add some Kimchi juice (red liquid included in your Kimchi pack) to your fried rice as you are cooking. Adding Kimchi to your fried rice will make the dish look RED and taste spicy! It tastes heavenly.
Caveat: If you put too much Kimchi in there, it will get too spicy.
My other favorite Kimchi dishes are Kimchi Jigae and Kimchi Bulgogi, and I will share my recipes in later posts. What do you think about Korean food? Do you like them? Share your favorite K-dish by leaving a comment below!:)
Bio: Emily is the marketing director at Funfundate, a social matching game dedicated to connecting people with like-minded singles nearby in a stress-free, fun way. She likes to cook, travel, and read books.
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