This past weekend, Little Ms. went on an adventure...in her very own city! As mentioned, this is one of the things that Little Ms. enjoys about living in a thriving and diverse metropolis. Sure, the TTC is unpredictable and you have to be diligent about remembering your reusable bags, but Toronto is a great city to have a culinary adventure in, without ever getting on a plane.
Little Ms.' adventure took place in Little Korea, at a PAT Central Market. Little Ms. did not intend to embark on a culinary adventure on this rainy Sunday, but she did want to make kimchi burritos and as her friend, Ms. G, noted, the market was on their way home. Little Ms. entered the market and never looked back. PAT Central has many exciting and inspiring food products to offer, and Little Ms.' culinary juices were immediately flowing. Beyond specialty Korean products, including kimchi, PAT Central also had a lot of harder-to-find produce items, like garlic scape and quince. They also have samples. Enough said. Go there!
Although the trip to PAT Central yielded many finds, it was really all about getting good quality kimchi. Little Ms. won't go into a lot of detail explaining what kimchi is, because Google is now a verb for a reason, but suffice it to say that kimchi is a savoury, spicy, crunchy, quintessentially Korean side dish (or is it a condiment? topping?). Little Ms. briefly investigated making her own kimchi, but decided not to be crazy. If you feel crazy, check out this instructional video.
Thanks to Ms. G for showing Little Ms. the way to kimchi burrito happiness.
This recipe was inspired by another food blog, cHow Divine.
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| The Kimchi! |
Kimchi Burritos
These burritos have 2 components: the kimchi fried rice and tofu/chicken, plus toppings. Its a great recipe to use up leftover steamed rice.
I purchased a marinated tofu at PAT Central to use in the tofu version, but cubes of firm tofu tossed in a little soya sauce and sirracha would work well too. The kimchi fried rice has lots of flavour.
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| Purchased marinated tofu. |
This recipe has a lot of ingredients, but is easy to prepare. If you're using leftover rice, its definitely a weeknight dinner. Use a fine grater or rasp to deal with the garlic and ginger and you'll be in burrito heaven in about half an hour.
Kimchi Fried Rice
The measurements in the recipe make a TON of fried rice - more than enough for 6 burritos, which will easily serve 4 people with big appetites and 1 person with a huge appetite. If you're only serving 2 or even 3 people, I'd half the recipe or resign yourself to eating kimchi fried rice for a week.
2 cups cooked (steamed) basmati rice, cold
2 eggs
2 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp sirracha
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp grape seed oil, or other neutral flavoured oil with a high smoke point
1 1/2 cups prepared kimchi, with juice
2 mini bok choy, washed, stems sliced thinly and leafy green leaves reserved for toppings
1 inch piece of peeled ginger, chopped finely
1 large clove of garlic, chopped finely
1 large clove of garlic, chopped finely
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| How I sliced my bok choy stems and leaves |
Chicken Filling (for 2 burritos)
1/4 lbs extra lean ground chicken
1 tbsp soya sauce
2 tsp sirracha sauce
1/2 inch piece of peeled ginger, chopped finely
1 small clove of garlic, minced
1 tbsp grape seed oil
1 tbsp grape seed oil
Toppings
1/2 cup of fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 cup of grated old cheddar cheese
extra kimchi
sirracha to taste
reserved leaves from bok choy, above
4 x 10 inch flour tortillas (I used whole wheat for mine and white for Big Mr.'s)
4 x 10 inch flour tortillas (I used whole wheat for mine and white for Big Mr.'s)
If you're making the chicken filling, prepare if first. Heat a medium frying pan on the stove over medium heat with grape seed oil. Once the oil is hot add the chicken, garlic and ginger. Break the chicken into smaller pieces while it cooks in the pan. Add the soya sauce and sirracha to the pan once the chicken is cooked through. Cook for 30 more seconds until the sauces are absorbed into the chicken. Set aside and keep filling warm.
To prepare the rice, put a large frying pan on the stove to heat with the grape seed oil. Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a small bowl, using a fork. Add a dash of soya sauce to the eggs. Once the pan is screaming hot, pour the eggs into the oil at once at swirl the pan, so the eggs create a thing pancake-like layer. Cook the eggs through fully, all on one side, or channel your inner Iron Chef and jostle the pan to flip the eggs. (Owning it comes in here - I Iron Chef-ed these eggs, and they didn't come out perfectly - but they almost did. You're going to slice the eggs into ribbons anyway, so here's a great recipe to practice this impressive party trick.) Once the eggs are cooked, remove from pan to a cutting board and fold your egg pancake in half to make for easier slicing. Slice the eggs into long, thin ribbons.
Put the pan back on the heat, and without adding any additional oil, add cold cooked rice to the pan, followed by garlic and ginger. The pan will be very hot at this point, so if you add your aromatics before your rice, the garlic will burn. Trust me, I learned from experience. Stir the rice to heat through, breaking up any clumps of rice. If you're having trouble breaking up the clumps, add a few drops of water to the pan to create some steam.
While the rice is heating, chop up your kimchi. I found the easiest way to do this without loosing too much juice was to chop the kimchi in the container using kitchen shears. Don't worry about size - you just want to break the cabbage down into smaller pieces.
Once the kimchi is chopped, add it to the pan and mix through the rice. Add chopped reserved bok choy stems to pan and mix. Add 2 tbsp soya sauce, sirracha and sesame oil to the pan. Top with ribbons of egg. You're done! Remove from heat.
Now - make you're burritos. Starting in the centre of your wrap, make a rectangle with the kimchi fried rice, making sure to get a few egg ribbons in each burrito. Working to the right of the rice, add about 1/3 cup of cooked chicken filling to the burrito, along with whatever toppings you choose. All the rice, filling and toppings should be on one half of the wrap with space one all sides. To fold, start with folding the wrap once so that most of the filling is now face down, then fold in the sides of the wrap and continue rolling the burrito. Its key not to over stuff your burritos. Over-stuffing will surely result in eating your burrito with a fork and knife.
If you're using the tofu, you can either heat it in the microwave or just push some of your fried rice away from the centre of the pan and heat your tofu with the rice once you have finished cooking it.
I was nervous about the interplay of cheddar cheese with all these distinctly Asian flavours, but it totally works! The cheddar adds a nice mellow, rich flavour to the sharp and spicy hits from the kimchi. Since cilantro is used in South American and Asian cuisine, I think its responsible for the cohesiveness of this fusion dish, I wouldn't leave it out (sorry Norbert). Both bok choy leaves, cilantro and extra kimchi add additional crunch to the burritos.
To prepare the rice, put a large frying pan on the stove to heat with the grape seed oil. Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a small bowl, using a fork. Add a dash of soya sauce to the eggs. Once the pan is screaming hot, pour the eggs into the oil at once at swirl the pan, so the eggs create a thing pancake-like layer. Cook the eggs through fully, all on one side, or channel your inner Iron Chef and jostle the pan to flip the eggs. (Owning it comes in here - I Iron Chef-ed these eggs, and they didn't come out perfectly - but they almost did. You're going to slice the eggs into ribbons anyway, so here's a great recipe to practice this impressive party trick.) Once the eggs are cooked, remove from pan to a cutting board and fold your egg pancake in half to make for easier slicing. Slice the eggs into long, thin ribbons.
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| My Iron Chef-ed eggs. Not perfect, but no one will know. The high heat makes them amazingly puffy. |
Put the pan back on the heat, and without adding any additional oil, add cold cooked rice to the pan, followed by garlic and ginger. The pan will be very hot at this point, so if you add your aromatics before your rice, the garlic will burn. Trust me, I learned from experience. Stir the rice to heat through, breaking up any clumps of rice. If you're having trouble breaking up the clumps, add a few drops of water to the pan to create some steam.
While the rice is heating, chop up your kimchi. I found the easiest way to do this without loosing too much juice was to chop the kimchi in the container using kitchen shears. Don't worry about size - you just want to break the cabbage down into smaller pieces.
Once the kimchi is chopped, add it to the pan and mix through the rice. Add chopped reserved bok choy stems to pan and mix. Add 2 tbsp soya sauce, sirracha and sesame oil to the pan. Top with ribbons of egg. You're done! Remove from heat.
Now - make you're burritos. Starting in the centre of your wrap, make a rectangle with the kimchi fried rice, making sure to get a few egg ribbons in each burrito. Working to the right of the rice, add about 1/3 cup of cooked chicken filling to the burrito, along with whatever toppings you choose. All the rice, filling and toppings should be on one half of the wrap with space one all sides. To fold, start with folding the wrap once so that most of the filling is now face down, then fold in the sides of the wrap and continue rolling the burrito. Its key not to over stuff your burritos. Over-stuffing will surely result in eating your burrito with a fork and knife.
If you're using the tofu, you can either heat it in the microwave or just push some of your fried rice away from the centre of the pan and heat your tofu with the rice once you have finished cooking it.
I was nervous about the interplay of cheddar cheese with all these distinctly Asian flavours, but it totally works! The cheddar adds a nice mellow, rich flavour to the sharp and spicy hits from the kimchi. Since cilantro is used in South American and Asian cuisine, I think its responsible for the cohesiveness of this fusion dish, I wouldn't leave it out (sorry Norbert). Both bok choy leaves, cilantro and extra kimchi add additional crunch to the burritos.
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| Cilantro - the world's most widely used herb. The ultimate ingredient in fusion cooking. The solution to world peace? |
"Cilantro--The ultimate ingredient in fusion cooking."
ReplyDeleteWell said!!!
I've been experimenting with Korean/Mexican fusion and I couldn't agree more.
Cilantro is the ultimate bridge for these flavors!
Happy cooking keep up the good work.