Here’s a few simple tricks to make kimchi fried rice healthy. Because what’s better then a flavor packed bowl of crispy fried kimchi rice topped with a perfectly gooey egg?
Well how about all that but with an almost 40% calorie decrease?
If you don’t have kimchi and want to make it, I got you covered:
Kimchi is great, kimchi fried rice is amazing. Now made even better with a few tweaks to make it low calorie. Welcome to the Low Cal Zone. Included is my foolproof method for making poached eggs and how to toast your own sesame seeds – so much value in one video 😉
The star of this dish is, of course, Kimchi, Napa cabbage kimchi, to be more specific.
This works best if you use an older, matured kimchi.
I used last portion of the one I made almost 2 months ago. So it has a lot of that good good kimchi funk in it, which is enough to infuse our rice.
Kimchi fried rice, while it can be made without any meat, it is usually cooked with either fried pork belly or fried spam and a fried egg on top.
These, besides the rice are the biggest sources of calories. If we look at the calories for these and compare them with chicken breast, it’s easy to see why it’s a great alternative. Especially if you’re interested in reducing calories while also increasing proteins.
And then, instead of the classic sunny side up egg I opted for a poached egg. Depending on how much oil or butter used when frying it can have almost 30% more calories than a poached egg.
Healthy Low Calorie KIMCHI Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 500 grams (3 cups) Cooked, day-old Basmati Rice
- 300 grams ~2 cups Kimchi store-bought is fine too
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 sprigs of green onion( the green part) the green part
- 4 tbsp kimchi juice
- 240 grams 0.52 lbs raw chicken breast
- 4 medium eggs poached
- 2.5 tbsp sunflower oil or any other neutrat tasting oil
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 4 tsp toasted sesame seeds
- 2 tsp Soy sauce
Instructions
- First start by cooking the chicken breast, skip this step if you're using leftovers
- Cut the chicken in bite size pieces, mix it up with 1 tsp of soy sauce and 1 tps of oil
- Place the chicken in a medium-heat pan and fry it for 5-6minutes, then set it aside
- Drain the kimchi (reserve the juice) and cut it in smaller pieces, but not too small, you still want to be able to identify it in the end product
- Cut the kimchi in smaller pieces, not too small though as you still want to be able to identify it in the finished product
- Dice the green and yellow onionsCut a few of the green onion sprigs at an angle for garnish
- In a medium heat heavy bottomed sauté pan add 2 tbsp of oil and then add the yellow onion + a pinch of salt. sauté it for 1 minuteAdd 2 cloves of grated garlic, sauté for 1 minutesAdd the kimchi, sauté for 2 minutesAdd the cooked chicken and mix it until it's well coated in the red vibrant color of kimchiAdd the rice, mix it until well coatedAdd the green onion and 2 tsp of sesame seed oil, taste for seasoning, I added an additional tsp of soy sauce.Now turn the heat on high, for 1 minute to create a crispy bottom. That's it, turn it off and move on to poaching eggs.
How to Poach the perfect egg
- Firstly in a small sauce pan filled two thirds up with water add 8 grams of white vinegar and 8 grams of salt
- As the water is heating up prepare a small bowl and a medium-sized bowl with a sieve*the water needs to reach a low simmer and a temperature of around 85°C or 185°F
- Take a medium sized egg and crack it in the sieve to train of the watery egg white. Then transfer the egg in the smaller bowl
- As the water reaches that 85°C or 185°F tempTurn the heat on low and stir the water with a spoon to create a vortex, slowly add the egg in the middle of the vortexLet it poach for about 3 to 4 minutes, this depends on the size of the egg When it floats to the top it should be almost done, you can take it out a bit to check the consistency, I left it for an additional 30 secondsTransfer it on a plate with paper towel if you're doing several of them.
Plating the Kimchi Fried rice
- Start with the kimchi fried rice
- followed by the green onions
- then the poached egg
- Top it with with thinly sliced toasted nori, a generous sprinkle of the toasted sesame seeds, a dusting of Gochugaru(optional) and a drizzle of toasted sesame oil.
- Serve and devour! Enjoy!
Did you make this recipe?
I’d love to hear how it turned out! Leave a comment below, or tag me with @solozaurcooking on Instagram and hashtag it #solozaurcookin.