Tuna kimchi fried rice

This is a meal made up mainly of store cupboard ingredients plus a couple of Korean staples, which I always have on hand, but may require a trip to an Asian supermarket or specialist store now and again (or actually even Amazon, you can get practically anything from there these days!).

I tend to make fried rice when I have left over plain rice from other meals as fried rice really needs day old rice as it can get a bit mushy if you used freshly cooked rice.

I often make Chinese fried rice that uses soy and sometimes Oyster sauce but if I fancy something with more pf a punch of flavour and heat, then I turn to this kimchi version.  

I have added tuna here but you could use any protein really, tofu, prawns, chicken or whatever takes your fancy, you could even omit this ingredient altogether. Make sure you cook everything through if you choose to use raw prawns or meat. Canned tuna is already cooked so in this recipe you just mix it quickly to warm it through really.

I usually like to add in extra vegetables than more traditional recipes but I just like this as I feel it makes it a more complete and nutrious meal. The flavours of kimchi, gochugaru and gochujang are also so powerful that I feel you can add some extra veg and the dish can handle it whilst still packing the full flavour punch!  Here I have added some extra cabbage, but I also think sweetcorn works well as it goes with the tuna and adds a little extra sweetness and colour to the dish. As with all fried rice dishes, it’s really versatile and there are so many options for you to add in whatever extras you fancy.

Serves 4

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 2tbsp vegetable oil

• 1 onion, diced

• 1 carrot diced

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• A handful of shredded/roughly chopped cabbage, I used about 3 savoy cabbage leaves, but you could sue any type of cabbage you prefer

• 250g kimchi (about 1 cup)

• 1 tbsp gochugaru (Korean rep pepper flakes)

• ½ tbsp sugar

• 2 tbsp soy sauce

• 1 x 145g can of tuna, drained

• 500g (2 ½ cups) cooked rice, preferable day old and cold

• 1 ½ tbsp gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)

• ¾ tbsp sesame oil

Garnish – all optional

• 1 fried egg per person

• 1 spring onion, chopped

• Sprinkling od toasted sesame seeds, I used a mix of black and white seeds

• Dried nori strips

Method

Heat oil on medium in a wok or large deep pan frying pan and fry the onion and carrot for a few minutes until they start to soften followed by the garlic and cabbage. Fry for a couple minutes more.

Add the kimchi, gochugaru, sugar, soy sauce and the tuna then mix thoroughly and cook for another couple of minutes.

Reduce the heat and then add the rice, breaking up any big clumps. Then add the gochujang and sesame oil and give it a good mix so any remaining clumps break down and all the rice gets coated and turns orangey-red.

Serve up in your rice bowls and top with a fried egg, the chopped spring onions, nori strips and sesame seeds to your preference.