This post is a part of a series I call Lovely Lady Lunch–where I take time, once a week, to make myself a real lunch. On the side, I might read a book, flip through a magazine, or watch something on YouTube. The idea is to enjoy a delicious lunch and just take a minute in the middle of the day to chill. I encourage you to share your lovely lady lunches on media using the tag #lovelyladylunch!
KIMCHI!!! You either love it or hate it, and I fall firmly in the LOVE category. I’m half Korean, so it’s kind of my birthright though I know a lot of non-Koreans who also love kimchi. For a long time, it was that weird, stinky food we had in our fridge growing up, but Korean food is sort of having a moment (or has it passed? I’m not always on top of the trends), so it’s much more available these days. For those who don’t know, kimchi is commonly spicy, fermented napa cabbage, but honestly, it can be pretty much any vegetable. Napa cabbage is common and it’s what I always use in my fried rice.
I think funkier (aka older) kimchi works best here, which is great since there’s always a little bit of kimchi left in the container and this is the perfect use for it. Since we’re cooking the kimchi, it really mellows out the funk and adds so much flavor to this fried rice. Fresher kimchi works, too. For this #lovelyladylunch, I’ve topped my kimchi fried rice with an egg (I’m into crispy edges) for some added protein and because, well, dat runny yolk! I also added a cookie because, #YOLO (#sorryseenoevilmonkeyemoji).
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 cup cooked rice
- ¼ to ½ cup chopped kimchi
- 3 scallions sliced
- ¼ cup diced carrot
- 2 eggs, beaten*
- ¼ cup frozen peas
- Heat a skillet oven medium-high heat, add the butter. Once the butter is melted, add the rice and kimchi, stir to coat the rice in the butter and to break up any clumps. Press the rice and kimchi mixture down into the pan and cook for about a minute before adding the scallions and carrot to the pan and season lightly with salt. Stir in the carrots and scallions and cook for about 2 minutes. Push the rice mixture to one side of the pan and add the beaten eggs to the open side. Season lightly with salt and stir the eggs to scramble. Stir the scrambled eggs through the rice mixture and add the peas. Cook for an additional 1-2 minutes or until the peas are warmed through.
I’m happy you snuck in the cookie link at the end. Because I noticed that cookie (out of focus or not!) I never miss a cookie.
REALLY excited about this one. Thanks lady! <3
oh, how I adore kimchi. I’ve never thought about adding it to fried rice. top it off with a runny yolk? happy lunching!
Hahaha funkier = older kimchi, totally agree. I love this lovely little lunch! You’re calling out to my Korean roots with this one. That fried egg looks perfect too.
I love this series!! More lovely lady lunches please :D.
I love your “Lady Lunches”! Kimchi took a minute to grow on me but now I’m a believer! There is a place here in Atlanta that does fried rice with kimchi in like an egg roll type situation and GURL let me tell you it is too good.
Pinned! I’ve been talking about kimchi fried rice for years now, but just never got around to making it because I feel like I need the right kimchi for a good kimchi fried rice, and I just usually never have kimchi in the fridge. Looks like I need to get on top of it, this looks delicious!!
It’s so worth it!