“Rice is great when you’re hungry and you want 2,000 of something.” – Mitch Hedberg

In our last session we dove taste buds first into the world of kimchi. Now we’re going to start exploring all the delicious recipes into which we can incorporate it. As prudent explorers, we’re going to make sure we’re familiar with well-established territories before going into the wild blue yonder (or more accurately – the wild orange-reddish yonder – if you’re kimchi is blue, do not eat it). That means we are going to start with kimchi in its most popular form – with rice!

Rice and Shine

There are many different types of rice and just as many ways to prepare it. Our preference is to use steamed jasmine rice, but if you have a favourite rice recipe, then stick with that – you’re fine just the way you are – don’t let anyone tell you differently (unless they’re telling you to eat kimchi). A more adventurous approach is to use sticky (aka glutinous) rice, but it’s a longer process to make, and not everyone has glutinous rice stored in the pantry. Kimchi is already healthy on its own, but depending on your health goals, you may want to go with brown rice. Or maybe you want to level up your unique fried rice recipe. And if you don’t have a unique fried rice recipe, you do now! (Hint: It’s regular fried rice with kimchi)

It’s rice to meet you

So once your rice is prepared to your liking, put it on the plate with some kimchi. Don’t mix them just yet – give them a little bit of space so that they can get to know each other first. Recall your training from our previous lesson and take a bite of kimchi. Follow it up with a spoonful/forkful/chopstickful of rice. The kimchi and rice are now mixed inside your stomach, so let’s expedite that process and eat the two foods together. Start with a bite of half-kimchi and half-rice, and then adjust according to your preference throughout the meal. Bonus tip: If you *did* decide to go with sticky rice, then you can actually just eat with your hands. Form the rice into a scoop-like utensil to eat the kimchi with.

Now that we’ve had our first sample of kimchi with another food, we are officially licensed to have an opinion on how to eat kimchi. Next time you’re at a party, whip out any one of the following pre-approved lines:

– “I’ve started eating kimchi. I enjoy it on its own, but it tastes even better with rice!”

– “I’ve started eating kimchi. I enjoy it with rice rice, but it tastes even better on its own!”

– “I’ve started eating kimchi. It’s good for a quick snack on its own, and it goes great with rice!”

– “I’ve started eating kimchi. I don’t really like the taste that much. Also I have to leave this party to go see a doctor, because my taste buds are clearly broken, so my credibility as a food reviewer is now in question. Goodbye!”

Lastly…have a rice day!

You are, I suppose, free to come up with your own opinions as well, and if you do, feel free to share them with us (in the comments below?). Stay tuned for our next article, where we guide you through other ways of enjoying your first jar of kimchi. Until then, keep eating it on it’s own, or try it with different kinds of rice – sticky rice, fried rice, steamed rice, it’s all good! As for uncooked rice, we hear that it can dry out electronics if you accidentally drop them in water, though we do not endorse using this same approach for kimchi. See you next time!

Check out different kinds of kimchi you can try with rice