Kimchi fried rice

If you're a bit of a kimchi addict you'll love this recipe for kimchi fried rice which comes from chef Judy Joo's book Korean Food Made Simple. I think would be brilliant for a weekend brunch.

KIMCHI FRIED RICE

KIMCHI BOKKEUM BAP

SERVES 4

Judy writes: My sister used to make this for me when we lived together in New York, and I loved it! Fried rice is the perfect way to use up leftovers, so feel free to improvise. Any kind of veggies or meat you have in the fridge – just toss them in. This is a great lunch or side dish. A variation, called omurice, is to make omelettes with the eggs and wrap them around the fried rice like a burrito. At Jinjuu, we like to fancy up our kimchi fried rice with a garnish of julienned roasted seaweed (kim) and lotus root chips.

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 slices thick-cut bacon, diced

2 carrots, diced

1 clove garlic, grated or finely chopped

9 button mushrooms, destemmed and diced

1⁄2 courgette, diced

3 spring onions, thinly sliced on an angle

225 g (8 oz) drained Cabbage Kimchi (there's a great recipe in the book but you can obviously use ready prepared kimchi), chopped

700 g (11⁄2 lb) steamed short or medium grain Korean rice, at room temperature

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 soft sunny-side-up fried eggs

In a large pan heat the oil over a medium- high heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until crispy, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a kitchen paper-lined plate to drain.

Reduce the heat to medium, add the carrots and garlic and cook for 2–3 minutes, stirring constant- ly, until the carrots are just softened. Add the mushrooms, courgette, two-thirds of the spring onions and the kimchi and cook for 4–5 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Add the rice and drained bacon, breaking up the rice with a wooden spoon and combining it with the other ingredients. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the rice is hot. Season and spoon the fried rice into four bowls and top each with a fried egg and the remaining spring onions.

TIP: Kimchi can stain your chopping board and the smell has a habit of lingering, too. To avoid this, put the kimchi in a bowl and use kitchen shears to cut it into smaller pieces.

What to drink: When I tried this dish in Judy's restaurant JinJuu (with which she is no longer associated) we drank cocktails (Jumi - Earl Grey infused soju with yujacha (citron tea) and HIte Korean lager with the meal which worked really well. Maybe just the yujacha (for which you can find a recipe here) if you have it for brunch!

From Korean Food made Simple by Judy Joo, published by Jacqui Small

Easy Korean Kimchi Hotpot

Want to cook something authentically Korean to celebrate Korean New Year next week? Try this easy, traditional Korean kimchi hotpot suggests Nathalie Gardiner.

My friend and fellow student, Aehyeon from South Korea, tipped me off that the best way to start cooking Korean food is using ready-made kimchi as she does in this simple recipe.. The delicious fat of the pork belly and the sharpness of the kimchi is a perfect combination.

You can switch the pork for beef or chicken and make it as spicy or mild as you like. You can use authentic Korean kimchi* (I used this one, which I sourced from an Asian supermarket here in Paris), a couple of jars, which you can find in most major supermarkets, or you could even make your own*. This recipe is super-adaptable so feel free to play around with it and work out what you like. You can even make a batch ahead for weeknight meals or take-to-work lunches.

Serves 6

500g chopped kimchi

450g pork belly, cut into bite sized pieces

2-4 tsp chilli powder (depending how hot your kimchi and chilli powder are and how much of a tolerance you have for chilli heat. Koreans like it hot!)

2 tsp of sugar

4 spring onions, trimmed and chopped

400g firm tofu, cut into bite sized cubes

Salt (add with caution as kimchi can be quite salty)

1. Combine the kimchi (with any liquid from the pack or jar), chilli powder, pork and sugar in a large saucepan.

2. Add 1.5 litres water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Add the cubes of tofu, and cook on a low to moderate heat for 10 more minutes.

4. Remove from the heat and check the seasoning, adding salt if it needs it. Add the chopped spring onions

5. Serve alone as a soup or with noodles or sticky rice and hot sauce on the side if you want to ramp up the heat.

What to drink

Best served with an ice-cold Hite lager and some good old fashioned Soju, or if you want to drink like a local, mix the two together (70/30 beer to soju) for a somac. Seol-nal!

If you're a kimchi fan you'll also enjoy this recipe for kimchi fried rice

* If you live in Bristol Caroline Gilmartin of Every Good Thing runs excellent kimchi classes.