Kongnamul kuk bap

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A spicy breakfast dish of rice from the city of Chonju in the south-west of Korea.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• Garlic to taste, finely diced
• 1 spring onion, sliced
• Cooked rice, made with 180 ml raw rice
• 25 g bean sprouts, blanched in boiling water for 2 minutes
• 240 ml water from blanching the bean sprouts
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder, or to taste

Method

1. In a saucepan, heat the sesame oil and gently fry the garlic and spring onion until soft.
2. Add the rice, bean sprouts, hot water and salt and mix well.
3. Then add the sesame seeds and chilli powder and break the egg over the mixture.
4. Bring to the boil over a medium heat and cook for 2 minutes, without stirring.
5. Finally, stir the egg into the mixture and remove from the heat.
6. Serve hot.

Serving suggestions

This can be accompanied by a cabbage or radish kimchi. Although this is actually a breakfast dish, you may wish to serve it as an accompaniment to a main course.

Chef's notes

The Koreans generally use a medium-grained rice, as they are not so fond of Basmati or long-grained rice as the latter varieties are of course found mainly in India and the Middle East. However, I did in fact use Basmati.