Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
1
I may have asked this last time I bought a jar but can’t find anything.
So, I bought a jar at the farmers market the other week. You remember the “other week”? That was before all this corona stuff.
Now, I know the couple of times I’ve eaten in Korean restaurants, kimchi is usually served separately as a condiment. And I do remember making a fried rice with some of the kimchi stirred through and I’ll make that again. But, do you have any suggestions for other dishes I can incorporate it into. The cupboard has a fairly basic stock of East Asian ingredients - the likes of soy, hoisin, oyster sauces, sesame oil, dried Sichuan chillis, etc , But nothing specifically Korean so I need recipes that might be, erm, a bit more generic, rather than traditional (I’m locked down so no trips to Chinatown for me).
I eat kimchi fairly often. Usually have it in a kimchi rice bowl. I place the kimchi in the bottom of the bowl. I top this with cooked rice ( I prefer brown rice for this). On top of this is my protein of choice. My favourite is poached salmon but I have used pork meatballs and breaded chicken . The last one is particularly useful at the moment given the shopping situation. I then add charred spring onions , sliced. On top of all this is a fried egg with runny yolk. Squirt on hoisin sauce and siracha, break yolk , mix together and dig in.
Love kimchi but prefer it as a side, that’s when the taste is best (to me). The crispiness of the cabbage (or radish or whatever the veg used), the freshness and the taste.
Though I enjoyed it a lot in other dishes when I was in Korea. Note that you probably have to use a lot in order to give it the colour and taste. In Korea it’s no problem.
Pork-kimchi dumplings are very common. Lovely in noodle soup.
In London last year at a fun coffee roastery/resto , I enjoyed a savory snack that sounds weird but is delicious: A scone filled with kimchi + feta cheese.
I’d cook fried rice, kimchi soup and kimchi pancake. If you have instant noodles at home you can even add it in to make it more flavourful. I think kimchi pancake might be the easiest to make because you probably have most of the ingredients at home already (flour and egg).
