Creamy Kimchi Udon
This dish is similar in spirit to my ddukboki carbonara recipe but even better. Unlike the ddukboki carbonara, the kimchi and kimchi brine give this dish a lovely tang that balances out the other components and gives it more depth of flavor. Absurdly delicious, stupidly easy to make (pretty much all the ingredients except heavy cream are pantry staples), and infinitely scalable; everything that you'd want in a recipe. If you're making this for yourself, simply scale down all the ingredient amounts by 50%. As with many of my cooking experiments lately, credit goes to Susanna Yu's smelly.lunchbox! https://www.instagram.com/p/Cddhj-WDZxI/
Active Time: 25 min
Total Time: 25 min
Ingredients
> frozen udon noodles (500g)
> bacon / pork belly (4 oz, cut into 1/2-inch strips)
> garlic (4 cloves, minced)
> onions (1/2, thinly sliced)
> scallion (1, thinly sliced)
> kimchi (1 cup, roughly chopped)
> kimchi brine (2 tbsp)
> gochujang (1.5 tbsp)
> soy sauce (1 tbsp)
> heavy cream (~4 tbsp)
> eggs (2)
> sesame seeds, black pepper
Instructions
1. Soak the frozen udon in boiling / hot water for ~2-3 minutes. Gently loosen the noodles, drain, and set aside.
2. Prepare the sauce by mixing together kimchi brine, gochujang, and soy sauce.
3. In a wok or large pan, cook bacon until caramelized over medium-high heat.
4. Add the garlic, onions, scallion whites, and kimchi. Continue to stir-fry for about 3 minutes, or until onions start to slightly caramelize.
5. Add the sauce mixture and heavy cream to taste (I found 4 tbsp to be a good amount). Mix well.
6. Add the noodles and mix well.
7. Serve, top with a poached egg, and garnish with scallion greens, sesame seeds, and black pepper.
Notes/Tips:
> Apparently, frozen udon noodles retain their chewy texture better than fresh ones (which is definitely fine by me -- makes storing noodles much easier!)
> Feel free to use either bacon or pork belly -- either works. If using pork belly and not as much fat renders out, you may need to add a bit of oil before adding the aromatics + kimchi.
> Depending on the type of kimchi and gochujang that you're using, you may need to adjust up or down for seasoning. My kimchi brine is relatively strong, and it actually ended up being slightly too salty. I added some sugar to balance it out.