What is it about bacon that transcends the line between sweet and savory, making everything it’s added to taste better!?! Bacon doughnuts – um… yes please, or we can do a 180º and add bacon to kimchi fried rice – either way it’s equally good. This recipe started off as just kimchi fried rice, but I had a partial package of bacon in the fridge which was next to the jar of kimchi. And I think you can guess where this is going because of course I grabbed both the kimchi and the bacon. I’m glad this welcome addition happened because bacon adds a whole new smoky dimension that really kicks the flavor of kimchi up a notch.
I’m relatively new to the world kimchi, to good kimchi that is – my first experience with it was less than stellar, and I didn’t try it again for years. The first time I tasted it, I’ll have to say I really disliked it because as it would happen, it didn’t taste much like the real thing at all. It came out of a little plastic pouch and had a weird indescribable prepackaged flavor. But with it’s recent popularity, some really great store bought kimchis have been popping up in our local grocery stores. You want to look for one that needs to be refrigerated, and preferably it would be raw for the best flavor if you want to eat it plain.
To make the sauce for the ‘fried rice’ you squeeze the juices out of the kimchi to add in at the end of the cooking time. Usually the kimchi is stir fried right with the rice, or in this case, cauliflower rice – but if you want to preserve some of the raw factor of your kimchi, you can stir it in right at the end.
Grating cauliflower with a box grater seems to produce a more even textured cauliflower rice, but the food processor is definitely faster.
Once the ‘fried rice’ is finished, you can keep it warm on the back burner while you make the over-easy eggs. Adding an over-easy egg is completely necessary in my opinion, I think it adds so much to the overall dish to have the runny yolk break over the top of a bowl of rice.
I still haven’t found the gumption or time to make my own kimchi, but I have a feeling that’s just a matter of time. Kimchi has quickly become my favorite of fermented foods, second only to kombucha, but it’s pretty close to a tie. My family is part German and sauerkraut has always been pretty big deal, but for some reason I’ve never really been fond of it. Kimchi is what I’ve always wanted sauerkraut to be, it’s much less sour with only a slight tang, and I love the slight spice and flavor of the chili in it. Tyler isn’t really a fan of anything pickled or sour in flavor, so I was really surprised when he loved kimchi as well. I hope if you’ve had a bad experience with fermented foods before, you’ll give kimchi a try because it’s one of those ‘healthy foods’ that you just can’t stop eating! 5 from 1 review
