Listeners, I hope you are all having an amazing and start to the day. Today we are going to talk about one of my favorite Korean foods: fried rice. Now Korean fried rice is a bit different from, let's say, Chinese fried rice or Thai fried rice. Part of this has to do with the rice. Korean rice is a short grain rice that is a bit denser and starchier than long grain rice, basmati rice or jasmine rice. Those other types of rice will dry out faster than Korean short grain rice so they will fry up faster because they will absorb the oil. Korean rice is more like risotto so it has to be coaxed to absorb the flavors or broth it is being fried in. This is why Koreans usually use fragrant sesame oil to fry instead of an oil with a high smoke point like canola oil.

Also the fried rice is served as a special treat after the meal and the rice takes in the flavors of the meal. Literally.

For example, if you have some spicy Dakgalbi or marinated chicken in red chili sauce you would make the fried rice with the leftover ingredients in the pan. It's kinda like making gravy with with the pan drippings after you roast a chicken or turkey. The cooked down sauce, chicken and veggies are concentrated in flavor and make the perfect ingredients for frying. So at restaurants, they would first scrape the pan to get all the blackened unhealthy stuff off the pan. Then they add rice, sesame oil and some shredded sesame seaweed. Then it is mixed in with the cooked down Dakgalbi sauce and ingredients. It is outstanding.

This can also be done with Tteokbokki or spicy rice cake noodles, or shabu shabu. With shabu shabu, they will add rice to the broth to make Juk or a rice porridge.

If you have something very saucy like Andong Jjimdak, some places will offer nurungji or scorched rice. This is like the crusty rice on the bottom of the pot after making steamed rice. The rice gets hard and crusty. The caramelisation of the rice causes it to have a sweetish taste to it. So what you do is to add this crispy rice to the sauce and let it sop up the sauce. It is one of my favorite things in Korea.

So where else can you get this Korean style of fried rice? Well also at gopchang places, or fried intestines. Also at Kamjatang, or pork bone and potato stew. The possibilities are endless.