Kimchi Chicken Rice Burger

As part of our series the Hunger Stage, which covers everything festival food, we asked Sophie Ellis-Bextor to invent her ultimate festival fusion dish.

Done in 2 hours

Serves 2

Dish by Spencer Lengsfield

Ingredients

for the chicken

4chicken thighs, boneless and skinless

2 tbspgochujang

1 tbspsoy sauce

1 tspgarlic powder

1 tspbrown sugar

1lime, juiced

1 tbspgochugaru

50mlolive oil

for the pickles

2baby cucumbers, sliced

200mlrice vinegar

1/2 tspsesame seeds

1 tspsalt

1 tspsugar

for the mayo

3 tbspJapanese mayo

1 tbspgochugaru

1/2lime, juiced

1/2 tspgarlic powder

Pinchsalt

to serve

200gsushi rice

1 tspsalt

1.5 tspsugar

2 tbsprice vinegar

Vegetable oil

Kimchi

She asked for Japanese-Korean fusion, plus some rice, pickles, kimchi, chicken and some spice. So, I present the kimchi chicken rice burger! Crispy sushi rice 'buns', Gochujang grilled chicken, kimchi, spicy mayo, and sesame pickles.

Method

Wash the sushi rice until the water runs clear, then cover with water so it comes up to your first finger knuckle. Cover, cook on low for 15 minutes then turn off the heat and leave to steam for another 5 minutes.

Mix together salt, sugar, and rice vinegar, then stir through the rice

Press into a casserole dish lined with cling film, cover with more cling film, then pop into the fridge to set for 1 hour.

Next, marinate the chicken thighs in gochujang, soy sauce, lime juice, garlic, brown sugar, gochugaru, and oil. Set aside

Thinly slice the cucumbers, then toss in rice vinegar, salt, sugar, and sesame seeds

For the mayo, mix together the mayo, gochugaru, lime, garlic, and salt.

Preheat the oven grill to 250 C. Cook the chicken under the grill until cooked through and nicely charred (around 5 mins on each side), then slice.

Once the sushi rice is set, remove from the dish and cut out circles.

Preheat the oil to 180 C, then fry the sushi rice discs until golden and super crispy

Now it’s time to build - crispy rice, mayo, kimchi, chicken, pickles, and the other crispy rice. Enjoy!

What do you think of the recipe?

save recipe

Spencer Lengsfield

follow

Spencer has been cooking since she got her first Easy-Bake oven at four years old, and began recipe developing professionally whilst completing her Master’s degree in 2020. Born in Los Angeles, she has an inherent love for all things Mexican, Japanese, and Korean, but is also heavily influenced by her family's Louisiana heritage. Spencer loves bright flavours, spice and fusion food. If she were a food, she'd be kimchi - versatile, spicy and funky.