Stirfried pork + kimchi = Yummy

One of the joys of having a wife from another country (Japan in this case), is that you can enjoy exotic meals right in your own home. My wife cooks this simple home recipe she said she learned elsewhere, and having learned to cook it myself, I wanted to share with others.

Kimchi (김치), of course, is the pickled vegetables used in Korean cooking. Japanese often love Korean food, and so you’ll sometimes see kimchi in Japanese homes as well. The most popular is the cabbage kimchi, made from Chinese cabbage or napa.

This simple stirfry recipe is quick and easy, and goes very well with white rice:

1. Jar of kimchi, the cabbage kind
2. Pork, sliced in thin sukiyaki style strips. If not available, chicken works well. If vegetarian, try a combonation of tofu, mushrooms and a small amount of vegetable broth.
3. Fresh ground ginger, or diced very small.
4. Sesame oil

Here’s how to cook. Cooking time takes less than 10 minutes:

1. Heat pan to medium-high heat, add modest amount sesame oil.
2. Add pork/chicken/tofu-mushroom-broth along with diced ginger. Stir-fry until meat/tofu is well cooked.
3. Now add kimchi. Roughly 2 parts kimchi, one part meat/tofu is a good estimate of how much to add. Stir-fry until cabbage softens, or to preferred taste. Generally it doesn’t need to be cooked too long.
4. Serve in large bowl with serving spoon (or chopsticks). Pick out of the bowl and eat with small bowl of white rice.

And that’s how simple it is. Kimchi-pork (as my wife calls it) is really good stirfry because the kimchi already has a lot of flavor, but when stir-fried, the sour flavor blends really well with the meat flavor. The ginger helps offset the sourness too, so don’t forget to add ginger.

Enjoy!