Heavily inspired by Esther Choi who, in Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend, declared her dream of integrating kimchi in every dish she cooks. This noodle dish is salty, sweet and spicy with the umami richness that only fermented food can impart.
Connie’s Notes
What is this dish exactly?
It’s a tossed noodle dish. Slightly undercooked noodles are tossed with a dressing made with soy sauce, honey, grated garlic, kimchi juice, scallions, sesame seeds and oil, and topped with browned seasoned ground pork.Just how spicy is it?
Well, let’s put it this way. It is spicy but the level of heat can be easily controlled by using less garlic or kimchi juice. Or you may even reduce both for a noodle dish that is sweet and salty with just a hint of tanginess.Kimchi juice?
When you buy kimchi, the vegetables are soaked in liquid, right? When I was clueless about kimchi, I thought that spices and seasonings are just added to water, and the vegetables are submerged in the mixture. But it’s not that simple. The soaking liquid is called porridge — glutinous rice flour and sugar cooked in water. It is this mixture that ferments to give kimchi its rich and complex flavor. I’ve seen my daughter (our resident kimchi maker) make it on the stovetop and asked what she was doing. I should have known, right? Water won’t ferment by itself, after all. When the vegetables are cured, most of the soaking liquid — kimchi juice for brevity — is often left behind. I never really thought about of any use for it until I saw an episode of Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend where challenger Esther Choi used kimchi juice as an ingredient of a cocktail drink that she concocted. I was wide-eyed with awe. What a genius move! If a good cocktail drink needs something tart, it’s citrus juice that’s usually added. Lemon, lime, orange… Why not kimchi juice, right? Not only is it tart, it also has a lot of umami richness that developed from fermentation.What kind of noodles is ideal?
Personally, I prefer noodles that can go into a bowl of ramen. Chewy, springy… But any noodle that can be cooked into chow mein or lo mein should work. Even pasta can be used although the texture of the dish will be different.Ingredients
Sauce / dressing
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce - (I used Kikkoman)
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons kimchi juice
- 1 ½ teaspoons grated garlic
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
- ¼ to ⅓ cup finely sliced scallions
- ½ teaspoon sesame seed oil
Noodles
- 120 grams dried Asian noodles - (ramen or stir fry noodles will both work)
Meat
- 150 grams ground pork - (a little over 5 oz.) with at least 30% fat
- 1 shallot - (or one small red onion) peeled and thinly sliced
- ½ teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon mirin
- 1 tablespoon sake
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients for the sauce / dressing. Taste and adjust the seasonings to suit yout taste. Set aside.
- Cook the noodles in plenty of boiling water until softened but still a bit undercooked.
- Drain the noodles well and toss with the sauce / dressing. Set aside.
- Spread the ground pork in a frying pan, set over high heat and cook until the underside if lightly browned. Stir and continue cooking until the coloring is even.
- Add the onion and garlic. Cook, stirring, until the onion slices are softned.
- Pour in the soy sauce, sake and mirin. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is quite dry. Taste and adjust the seasonings, if needed (If you make adjustments and add more soy sauce, sake or mirin, you have to continue cooking the ground pork until the meat has soaked up all the liquid).
- Divide the noodles among three bowls. Spoon any remaining sauce / dressing over them.
- Top with the browned ground pork and serve.
