The Spicy Brothy Dinner Bowl I've Got on Repeat

I've never loved kimchi more

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Our star, in a version with cooked farro and a poached egg.

As a recently single parent person, I have two kinds of weeks. One is the week when my 15-year-old is with me, and the other is when he’s with his dad. When we’re together, the fridge needs to be fully stocked. The guy can take down a pound of broiled salmon in a single meal; an entire box of pasta is the right amount for the two of us; he inhales two yogurt containers and a protein bar for breakfast; sucks down orange juice like a camel at the end of the road.

Plus, the snacks: he likes to dress a 12-ounce container of soft tofu with soy sauce, black vinegar, furikake, and sesame oil, and then eats it straight out of the container, in minutes. The other day I found four intact cheese sticks in his backpack. Often, he returns to the kitchen after dinner, prowls around, emerges with quesadillas, giant bowls of cereal, fried rice with an egg on top. Needless to say, on our nights together, I make a real dinner.

When he’s not here, though, I like to play a fun game called How Many Meals Can I Make Without Buying Groceries. The answer is often an entire week’s-worth, as long as I have kimchi in the house. I’m really good at this game, love not spending money, and watching the fridge become less and less cluttered as the week goes on gives me a serene, peaceful feeling. Unless I run out of kimchi, which would be terrifying.

With farro and melted mozzarella sticks.

I love a pantry-based meal, and any one of these other recipes could fit right into my shopping-the-refrigerator game: tuna melt, broccoli salad, spaghetti aglio e olio, pasta ceci, savory cottage cheese bowls, a grain bowl, popcorn, more popcorn.

For the past couple of weeks though, I’ve been funneling anything and everything in the fridge through one single recipe, and, not to brag, but it has come out amazing each time.

Please meet my new best friend and epic dinner for one: Brothy Kimchi Dream Bowl.

With oyster mushrooms, caramelized onions, tteok, and mozzarella.

Because of my book deadline, I have no synapses to spare. During my hermit weeks, the repetition of this preparation is working for me, as is the 15 minute total cooking time. When I’m panic-hungry at lunch, this is what I’m making. Working dinner: same same. TV dinner: a delight. As if it couldn’t get any better, my gut health is off the charts.

Almost every ingredient listed below is flexible, spin-able, or optional, with one exception: the kimchi.

Do not. Run out. Of kimchi.

Here’s how to make it.

Brothy Kimchi Dream Bowl

FAT: Vegetable oil, extra-virgin olive oil, or butter

PRODUCE: About 2 cups combined (not starchy) vegetables that taste good cooked, like mushrooms, kale, cabbage, carrots, celery, radish, fennel, spinach, onion, shallot, shelled edamame, etc.

KIMCHI: Cabbage kimchi

FLAVOR DEEPENER: Gochujang or miso, optional

LIQUID: Water, stock, or bouillon

PROTEIN: A source of protein, such as rotisserie chicken meat, leftover cooked ground meat, frozen shrimp, eggs, mozzarella, and/or firm tofu (optional)

STARCH: 2 to 3 ounces of tteok (Korean rice cakes, soaked), ramen noodles, soba, omen, or any wheat noodle, or about 3/4 cup of cooked whole grains

LAST TOUCHES: Rice vinegar or black vinegar, fish sauce, toasted sesame oil, and/or soy sauce, for seasoning

Heat a 2-quart saucepan over medium-high, add a healthy drizzle of oil, and then sauté whatever vegetables you’ve got in the mix. Last week I had some oyster mushrooms that I needed to use up, so I tore them into pieces and cooked them with some sliced onions until they were almost chewy-crisp. Other times I’ve used thinly sliced celery and torn kale.

Season the vegetables lightly with salt and cook a lot or a little: if you want crunch in the finished bowl, keep it crisp-tender. If you love the flavor of a well-cooked carrot, take it further. Onions are delicious juicy and barely floppy, or frizzled and brown. You’re on your own path, and I trust you to make great decisions.

I keep the seasonings pretty simple since the kimchi delivers a ton of sour, salty, spicy, and savory flavor. If I don’t have any appropriate vegetables (say I only have cucumbers and herbs in the crisper drawer, for example), I treat the kimchi as my vegetable, which it is, and so much more.

Next add the kimchi, 2 or 3 large spoonfuls per person, and let that sizzle for a few minutes in the residual fat, stirring, and allowing the kimchi juice to reduce. If you want to deepen the flavor and you happen to have gochujang or miso in the fridge, add a little dollop of either one and stir it into the mixture. Totally fine to skip that, though.

Pour in enough water or stock to just cover everything in the pot. If you’re using water and want to amp it up with bouillon, dissolve it into the soup now. Bring the liquid to a boil, then simmer for a few minutes to get all the ingredients talking with each other.

If you have cooked grains, add directly to the soup. If you’re including tteok or noodles, cook them in a separate pot of water, then transfer to the soup and gently simmer for another minute or two to meld flavors.

Drop in your protein, if using. When I make this with eggs, I crack 1 or 2 right into the simmering liquid, then turn off the heat and let them poach for 3 minutes. I do the same thing with the mozzarella so that it melts on top of the liquid. For other proteins, simmer them until warmed (or until cooked through, if using shrimp).

Doctor your bowl with vinegar, fish sauce, sesame oil, and/or soy sauce, as desired.

With tofu and vermicelli.