What Does Kimchi Go With?

On a freezing day in December 2017, at the vibrant Leith Market in Edinburgh, we exchanged our products for money for the very first time.

And since that day we’ve been asked many, many times “what is kimchi?”

However it’s a question we love to be asked because it gives us the opportunity to talk about one of our favourite things and it means we get to discuss its ancient origins, health benefits and the way we lovingly make each batch (including how we massage every one of those napa cabbages!)

Once the basics are established the question that quickly follows is “what does kimchi go with?”

And we love this question too, because the possibilities are endless…

The short answer is that you can eat kimchi straight out the jar (our favourite approach!) or have it as a side to pretty much anything.

In fact, in its most traditional and simplest form it is a side that accompanies many Korean meals. But it’s also used as an ingredient within traditional Korean cooking for dishes such as ‘kimchi jjigae’ (kimchi stew) and ‘dubu kimchi’ (tofu kimchi).

Over the last few years however there has been somewhat of a global explosion in the popularity of Korean food (be it comfort, street or fusion style) and with that many new ideas and recipes for pairing kimchi, or cooking with it, have emerged.

For us, some of the best ideas are the easiest.

Here’s just a few of our suggestions…

1. Fold it through scrambled eggs or tofu
2. Pack it into a cheese toasty
3. Add it to a Buddha (or grain) bowl
4. Mix it with feta or cottage cheese and eat with wholegrain crackers
5. Blitz it and add a spoonful to a Bloody Mary mix (yes, really!)
6. Fry it with rice, lime juice, soy sauce and spring onions
7. Blitz it, mix it with good quality butter, and drizzle over corn on the cob
8. Mix it with cheese, chips (fries), spring onions and bake

As we say, the possibilities are endless, so if you have a favourite way of serving kimchi, let us know below 👇👇👇