Dinner Tonight: Kimchi Chahan (Fried Rice)
I make kimchi fried rice all the time, but it's always a haphazard affair. Half a dozen vegetables go in along with a mound of chopped kimchi and a couple eggs. I turn the heat to high and stir quickly. That's my style. It's always good, but I wanted to see what it would be like if a put a little bit more care into the production. What if I didn't go crazy and chuck in every ingredient I could find in the fridge? Luckily, I ran across this recipe for kimchi chahan on the blog Adnilem's Journey. It looked incredibly simple, and also a bit odd.
From what I can tell, Chahan is Japanese-style fried rice. The real peculiarity is that the rice and egg are mixed before they ever hit the pan. I was deeply skeptical of this at first. Nothing derails a fried rice for me more than the egg and rice sticking to each other and clumping up. But the high heat and agressive stirring solves that problem, and it allows each grain of rice to have its own coating.
The result is a nuanced and ultimately more intriguing version of the dish. It also requires fewer ingredients and less time to make. Not a bad deal.
Kimchi Chahan
-Serves 2-
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups cooked rice, warm
2 eggs
1 cup kimchi, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 scallion, chopped (optional)
soy sauce to taste
Procedure:
1. Pour the sesame oil into a large skillet set over medium heat. Add the garlic, and cook for about 30 seconds, or until fragrant.
2. Whisk together the two eggs in a medium sized bowl. Add the rice, and stir until well combined. Turn the heat to medium-high, and dump into the skillet. Stir continuously so the rice doesn't stick together, until the egg has completely set, about 30 seconds to a minute.
3. Add the chopped kimchi and stir until thoroughly combined. Continue cooking until the kimchi is warm.
4. Serve with an optional garnish of scallions and a little soy sauce to taste.
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8 Comments:
uh oh. calling 炒飯(not sure how to pronounce it in Chinese) a Japanese dish may offend Chinese people.
I've seen mixing eggs and rice before cooking, but it's normally made by cooking eggs first, I believe.
My guess is that Kimchi Chahan is probably a Japanese bachelor's invention. So easy!! kimchi+pork is definitely better :-)
hmw0029 at 5:12PM on 06/26/09
When I have absolutely nothing in the fridge, I make the same thing - but skip the bowl and just add the eggs into the pan (less clean-up).
Plus, why not call it Kimchee Bokum?
miamia at 5:19PM on 06/26/09
ehh..
I'm not offended. It's "Japanese-style". There are so many variations and styles of fried rice, I really cant complain when it gets modified with other people's creativity. When I make fried rice, its really a lot like throwing a whole bunch of random leftovers together in a wok. This includes blasphemous things like tomato paste or even olives.
Thats the point of fried rice.. it's meant to use up all the odds and ends.
It works.. now... other inauthentic chinese food... that offends me. Crab rangoon comes to mind.
engmcmuffin at 5:22PM on 06/26/09
@engmcmuffin- what I meant was it is spelled 炒飯 and cha-han is not a Japanese pronunciation for these characters. same goes for 焼売, 餃子 etc, to make a slight effort to recognize them as Chinese dishes even though they are modified. anyway. I make weird fried rice too.
I'm offended when people try to make sushi with brown rice.
hmw0029 at 5:33PM on 06/26/09
Wikipedia says (and so does my memory of menus in Japan) that chahan is spelled チャーハン (phonetically, in the characters used for foreign words).
Wikipedia's definition, "Chinese fried rice suited to Japanese tastes," is probably the best description I've seen. I highly doubt that it's a bachelor's invention, as bachelors in Japan usually don't cook, and there are numerous Chinese restaurants "suited to Japanese tastes" in Japan.
(And if someone wants to make sushi with brown rice, I say, let them. I'm only irritated if they call it authentic.)
squidlette at 11:05PM on 06/26/09
um, we use both チャーハン and 炒飯. you can spell anything in katakana (the former) and hiragana.
I don't seem to be able to explain this clearly so I'll just stop here.
@miamia has a point- just call it Kimchee bokumbap.
(Brown rice sushi: it's a cultural and personal thing. I don't mind spicy tuna rolls and Philly rolls but brown rice is just wrong. Americans often complain about horrible things Asians do to pizza- it's similar.)
hmw0029 at 9:29AM on 06/27/09
That picture made my mouth water. I was imagining frying some Spam slices prior to adding it to the rice, a bit of spinach, and sesame seeds, but a simple preparation like this is great, as you're better able to appreciate the few ingredients more.
@hmw0029: I snickered at the pizza-sushi analogy. :)
Cassaendra at 5:51PM on 06/27/09
Funny, I usually put the kimchi in first, then the rice, then the egg. And none of that "mixing in a bowl" thing.
piccola at 8:43PM on 06/28/09