10 ways to use kimchi in the kitchen

Kimchi is not just a side dish, it is an ingredient. Ten easy ways to use it, plus the one rule worth remembering.

The one rule

Heat kills the live cultures. If you want the probiotic benefit, add kimchi at the very end or eat it raw. Cooked kimchi is still delicious, so do cook with it, just think of it then as a hit of flavour rather than a dose of live culture.

Ten ideas

• Stirred into scrambled eggs in the last few seconds.

• Kimchi fried rice, the classic for a reason.

• Layered into a grilled cheese.

• Folded through ramen or any noodle soup.

• Scattered on pizza, added after it comes out of the oven.

• Tucked into a toastie or a burger.

• Chopped into a slaw or a green salad.

• Kimchi pancakes, the Korean jeon.

• Stirred into mayo for a quick spicy dip.

• Straight from the jar, cold, as a snack.

Do not waste the brine

The juice at the bottom of the jar is pure concentrated flavour. Splash it into dressings and marinades, or into a bloody mary. It is far too good to pour down the sink.

Once you start, kimchi stops being the jar you forget at the back of the fridge and becomes the thing you reach for first.