Kimchi risotto, organic egg, cheddar & sesame by JOO WON

Recipe for 4 starter portions

Ingredients:

• 200g well fermented Kimchi (keep the juice) chopped and sauté well with pinch sugar to mellow down the taste
• 60g butter
• 20g veg oil
• Half medium sized onion – chopped into small dice
• 200g risotto rice
• 2ltr light chicken stock / or veg stock (add water if this runs out)
• 60g grated cheddar cheese (mild cheddar works best)
• 40g grated Parmigiano Reggiano             

Get the chicken stock simmering on the side. Heat the pan, add 45g butter and oil, then onion and sauté without colour. Add rice and toast for a minute, then add a good amount of stock and stir well. Let the rice mix keep gently bubbling and stir continuously from start to finish, so you need to get all the ingredients close to you.

Add kimchi juice for colour and taste (to your preference). Keep adding to the simmering stock one ladle at a time whenever the stock is absorbed by rice and gets thicker. You need to keep the consistency as thick as soup for about 12 mins.

Reduce the amount of stock and keep stirring until the rice is cooked to your preference. Usually, the whole process takes about 18 minutes. When the rice is cooked, add kimchi and cook for 30 seconds, keeping the stock level as minimum, the mix should look slightly thick. Take off the stove, add remaining butter and cheese. Stir well, check seasoning, and then pour into the serving bowl.

Garnish:

• 4 slow cooked eggs – steam at 63 c for 1.5 hours and then chill under cold water.
• For service, crack the egg into boiling water to warm and seal the egg white, or simply use a poached egg.
• Sesame oil
• parmesan to grate as an additional
• Spring onion sliced

Crispy Nori:

Wet rice paper and stick it to nori, let it dry out completely. Cut into portions and deep fry. Season with salt and pepper.

Kimchi (garnish for risotto):

• 500g Chinese cabbage
• 90g salt
• 1lt water

Slice into strips. Put for 2 hours in 9% brine, then rinse 2 times in water and drain well. Make sure it’s completely dried before mixing with chili paste

• 30g  gochugaru (korean chili powder) is the essential ingredient. Do not use go chu jang!
• 25g  fish sauce (korean Kanari sauce or simply standard fish sauce)
• 15g  garlic
• 4g   ginger
• 10g salted shrimp (Sae woo jeut : easily found at any Korean supermarket)
• 25g onion
• 25g pear

Grate onion and pear by using the smallest cutter as possible. You really want it to be like paste. Finely chop the salted shrimp, garlic, and ginger, mix all together and taste  it. Adjust the seasoning to taste by adding salt or fish sauce. Leave it to rest for 1 hour before mixing with cabbage. You can use straight after or leave at room temp for 8 hours. Keep in the fridge until needed or it reaches desired flavour.