When all that menu planning I discussed in an earlier post gets sidetracked, it is time to improvise. Today I was surveying the refrigerator and found the following items:

• about 1 cup of kimchi
• 1 carrot
• 3 green onions
• 1 red pepper
• 2 heads of broccoli

Hmmm, that looks like the ingredients for a tasty fried rice.  I checked in the freezer and I had a partial bag of medium (51-60) prawns – perfect as the protein in my fried rice plan. So let’s get cooking, shall we?

Prawn Kimchi Fried Rice

Ingredients:

• 24 medium prawns (51-60 size), thawed, deveined, peeled and tails removed
• 3/4 – 1 cup of kimchi, cut into 3/4 inch
• 1 carrot, sliced diagonally or julienned
• 3 green onions, sliced thinly (about 1/4 inch), greens and whites separated
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 1/2 cup  broccoli flowerets
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 6 tsp peanut oil, divided into 3 parts
• 1/2 cup uncooked rice
• 1 cup water

Preparation:

In a small pot, add the water and rice. Stir well. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, then cover and reduce the heat to a low simmer. Cook 15 – 20 minutes until the water is absorbed. In a small bowl, combine the prawns and fish sauce and turn to coat. Heat a large wok over high/medium high heat. Add 2 tsp peanut oil and when shimmering, add the prawns carefully avoiding adding the fish sauce to the wok.

Reserve the fish sauce for later use. Stir fry the prawns a few minutes until pink, remove to a clean bowl and add 2 more tsp of peanut oil.

When shimmering, add the broccoli and stir fry 3 -5 minutes until bright green then remove to a bowl. Add the last 2 tsp of peanut oil and when shimmering, add the rice.  Stir fry the rice to coat with oil before adding the red pepper and carrot. Stir fry 2 – 3 minutes then add the kimchi (including the kimchi juice!) and reserved fish sauce. Continue to stir fry until the rice is colored by the kimchi and fragrant. Add the whites from the green onion and stir fry for a minute before adding the broccoli and prawns to reheat and meld flavors, approximately 2 minutes.  Plate and sprinkle the green onions over the top.

(I apologize for not capturing more photos. Once this dish started coming together, it was fast. This dish would have benefited from a Go-Pro!)