Recipe Mushroom & Kimchi Fried Rice

Now, about the recipe: I love it. I actually have every ingredient except king oyster mushrooms (though I do have button mushrooms). I am definitely making this, maybe tomorrow. Out of curiosity, how much sesame oil do you use? I’m likely an outlier, but I love it, and I would happily drop a tablespoon of sesame oil into the pan..
 
The Late Night Gourmet said:
Now, about the recipe: I love it. I actually have every ingredient except king oyster mushrooms (though I do have button mushrooms). I am definitely making this, maybe tomorrow. Out of curiosity, how much sesame oil do you use? I’m likely an outlier, but I love it, and I would happily drop a tablespoon of sesame oil into the pan..
Click to expand...
I love sesame oil!
 
garlichead said:
Me too, when dolled out judiciously. It can easily overwhelm delicate floral and herbal flavors. I never use as a cooing oil. Basically I use it sparingly.
Click to expand...
Same here. A small bottle lasts me a long time. I don't know why anyone would ever cook with it.
 
The Late Night Gourmet JAS_OH1 garlichead
I warn y'all: Between cooking the mushrooms and browning the rice, I probably used as much as a quarter cup of sesame oil, mostly because the fresh mushroom absorbed it like a sponge! Sesame oil is so flavorful though, the finished product didn't taste like a greasy mess, but I imagine skimping on this ingredient will not result in best results.

Fun fact: when you make this dish with pork instead of mushrooms, the animal fat replaces the need for almost all of this oil and the sesame oil becomes a "finishing touch" instead.
 
FowlersFreeTime said:
The Late Night Gourmet JAS_OH1 garlichead
I warn y'all: Between cooking the mushrooms and browning the rice, I probably used as much as a quarter cup of sesame oil, mostly because the fresh mushroom absorbed it like a sponge! Sesame oil is so flavorful though, the finished product didn't taste like a greasy mess, but I imagine skimping on this ingredient will not result in best results.

Fun fact: when you make this dish with pork instead of mushrooms, the animal fat replaces the need for almost all of this oil and the sesame oil becomes a "finishing touch" instead.
Click to expand...
You said you used a quarter of a cup total. I understand where your coming from saying it absorbed into the mushrooms. It's still a lot of sesame oil, but I'd have to taste the dish your way to see before I disagree further. It wasn't the oily, greasy component that I'm concerned about it's the over powering ability sesame oil has and a 1/4 cup has me wondering.
 
FowlersFreeTime said:
The Late Night Gourmet JAS_OH1 garlichead
I warn y'all: Between cooking the mushrooms and browning the rice, I probably used as much as a quarter cup of sesame oil, mostly because the fresh mushroom absorbed it like a sponge! Sesame oil is so flavorful though, the finished product didn't taste like a greasy mess, but I imagine skimping on this ingredient will not result in best results.

Fun fact: when you make this dish with pork instead of mushrooms, the animal fat replaces the need for almost all of this oil and the sesame oil becomes a "finishing touch" instead.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry if my saying that came off wrong! I just meant it's so expensive and I do just use it as a finishing oil, plus it's so delicate that I think I'd be hesitant to cook with it.
 
JAS_OH1 said:
I'm sorry if my saying that came off wrong! I just meant it's so expensive and I do just use it as a finishing oil, plus it's so delicate that I think I'd be hesitant to cook with it.
Click to expand...
Oh no I totally get it! Plus it burns easily, so its more appropriate as a finishing oil.
In this case however, I felt like I needed the mushrooms to absorb some flavor, so I used only sesame oil and a pinch of salt here. If this were a Western or European dish, I bet a similar role would be played by butter or olive oil.
 
garlichead said:
You said you used a quarter of a cup total. I understand where your coming from saying it absorbed into the mushrooms. It's still a lot of sesame oil, but I'd have to taste the dish your way to see before I disagree further. It wasn't the oily, greasy component that I'm concerned about it's the over powering ability sesame oil has and a 1/4 cup has me wondering.
Click to expand...
Fair enough!
 
FowlersFreeTime said:
Fun fact: when you make this dish with pork instead of mushrooms, the animal fat replaces the need for almost all of this oil and the sesame oil becomes a "finishing touch" ininstead.
Click to expand...
I think it would be good with both pork and mushrooms (and a sub for kimchi, lol).
 
FowlersFreeTime said:
Fair enough!
Click to expand...
After giving it more though I may be overly cautious and you could be right about how intense it might taste. If each mushroom absorbed some sesame oil and when consuming a mouthful of rice, kimchi and a mushroom piece or 2 that it may not actually be that over powering. My initial response was based on my experience with sesame oil, but of course this would need to be field tested, so to speak, which I will do given the opportunity. Cheers.

TO EDIT: I went back and looked to see if you cooked the mushrooms separately, and you do, so I'm more inclined to say that your method (amount of sesame oil) should/could be fine, except I probably would have added it near the end of cooking instead of using it to cook with. Raw sesame oil has a very low cooking (heat) threshold.
 
Last edited:
I have never tried using sesame oil as the only oil in a recipe. It's always been the accent to bring the roasted nuttiness to a dish, after the neutral oils have done their thing in the rest of the preparation. I think I will try gradually stepping up my usage in a dish like this. I will need a bigger bottle of sesame oil, but now I'm thinking I could make my own easily enough (roast some sesame seeds, then infuse them in neutral oil before straining them out.
 
Right - a lot of sesame oil... Recently I bought some Indian Gingelly (sesame) oil, thinking it would be the same as SE Asian sesame oil. It´s not, it´s a much gentler flavour; more of a cooking oil than a finishing oil. So you might want to look at that option.
 
My issue with sesame oil is that is seems to go rancid in a hurry, even stored in the refrigerator. I don't use it enough to finish even half of a small bottle before it turns nasty, so I just stopped buying it.

CD
 
caseydog said:
My issue with sesame oil is that is seems to go rancid in a hurry, even stored in the refrigerator. I don't use it enough to finish even half of a small bottle before it turns nasty, so I just stopped buying it.

CD
Click to expand...
I just buy very small bottles. We have a rather large Asian community here and there are several small grocers who sell it, I particularly love that toasted sesame oil. I love mixing it in sauces (like a sriracha-mayo) and using it with seared tuna and sushi rice/nori wraps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom