Stir-Fried Quinoa with Kimchi and Mushrooms

“Kimchi Bokkeumbap” in Korean, but with quinoa instead of rice, plus a generous portion of mushrooms. This Stir-Fried Quinoa with Kimchi and Mushrooms is an easy, quick, and very healthy dish to prepare.

We all know quinoa is a very healthy ingredient. Kimchi is also very healthy in different and complementary ways. And the taste is great, though, for some, it is an acquired taste. Among the many kimchi recipes on delectabilia are this delicious spicy kimchi stew and this unusual kimchi consommé.

If you are not used to spicy food, the amount of chilli in most commercial kimchi’s should be fine for you. Taste the kimchi juice before adding it to the stir-fried quinoa, just in case. If you would like it to be a little spicier, add some gochujang paste. If you don’t have any that available, add some Tabasco sauce. I have done that, and it works great. Tabasco, like kimchi, gets a lot of its character from the fermentation process.

Koreans sometimes add some bacon or ham to the stir fry. I have tried adding some pancetta, and it worked beautifully. Fry it in the oil before you do the mushrooms, set it aside, dice, and add back when you add the kimchi. This vegetarian version of kimchi quinoa is great, but few slices of pancetta certainly take it in an interesting alternate direction.

Stir-Fried Quinoa with Kimchi and Mushrooms

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Asian Inspired, Korean

Keyword: kimchi, mushrooms, quinoa, vegetarian

Servings: 4 people

Author: Steve Paris

"Kimchi Bokkeumbap" in Korean, but with quinoa instead of rice, plus a generous portion of mushrooms. This Stir-Fried Quinoa with Kimchi and Mushrooms is an easy, quick, and very healthy dish to prepare.

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Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa I used red quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 40 g butter
• 500 g kimchi with juice
• 300 g enoki, white beech, or similar small mushrooms
• 1 bunch spring onions ~10
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 Tbsp gochujang paste optional, if you like it a little more spicy
• 3 slices pancetta optional, if not vegetarian

Instructions

• Cook the quinoa in the 2 cups of water. I use a rice cooker. So easy.
• Clean, trim, and chop the spring onions.
• Trim the base from the enoki mushrooms.
• Drain the juice from the kimchi and reserve. Chop up the kimchi into bite sized pieces.
• In a large pan/wok heat 1 Tbsp olive oil. When hot, add 20 g butter. Add the mushrooms and sauté until starting to brown.
• Add the chopped kimchi and sauté for 5 to 10 minutes. Add 3 Tbsp kimchi juice while cooking. More if it starts to stick to the bottom of the pan/wok.
• If you like it a bit more spicy, add the gochujang paste.
• Add the cooked quinoa and black pepper.
• Stir fry until you get your desired degree of dryness/crispiness.
• Check and adjust seasoning if necessary. Because of the salt in the kimchi, it shouldn’t need any more.
• Cook each egg over a low heat, in 5 g butter each. We are essentially poaching the egg in butter. Decadent but delicious.
• Reserve some of the chopped spring onion to add as a garnish, and stir the rest into the kimchi fried quinoa.
• Add a serving of the kimchi fried quinoa to a plate, top with an egg, and sprinkle over some spring onions.

Notes

Non-vegetarian option: Cook 3 or 4 slices of pancetta or prosciutto in the olive oil before adding the butter and mushrooms. Set aside the pancetta and continue as above. Cut up the pancetta slices into 10cm sq pieces. Add back to the pan when adding the kimchi.

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