Happy Lunar New Year, everyone! All last week I had grand plans to make jiao zi (dumplings) and dou sha bao (steamed buns with red bean paste) and other Chinese goodies, but somehow I never got around to it. Fortunately, the New Year is supposed to be celebrated for 15 days, so I’ve still got plenty of time to make everything.
In the meantime, I just had to satisfy my craving for kimchi fried rice. My friend Grace posted a picture of her husband cooking it for a midnight snack a few days ago, and I’ve had kimchi on the brain ever since. It’s just so pungent and tangy and delicious! So good as a side, but possibly even better in fried-rice form. It’s definitely way better comfort food than mac and cheese or ice cream. And, I just happened to have a small jar of very ripe (best if used by 12/10/10…but still tasty in February!) kimchi sitting in my fridge, waiting to be eaten.
Since Dan and I live together now, it’s pretty rare for me to cook a meal just for myself, especially on weekends. Everything I cook these days is tailored to both of our tastes. So, it was with some trepidation that I asked Dan how he felt about having kimchi fried rice for lunch today. I love kimchi, but he hated it the last time we went to a Korean BBQ restaurant, and has steadfastly refused to eat it again since. Fortunately for me, however, he has terrible long-term memory when it comes to stuff that he eats, so by the time I asked about lunch, he had already forgotten that he’d ever eaten kimchi, and was willing to give the fried rice a shot.
The result? I’m going to remember this moment forever as a shining victory in my Dan-feeding adventures. He not only ate the rice, but pronounced it delicious and went back for seconds. Awesome.
For the recipe and quick explanation of kimchi fried rice, check out www.trifood.com.
"too ripe" kimchi does not exist, haha.