Kimchi Chorizo Shrimp Paella, for rice night

This Korean fusion style paella with kimchi, shirmp, and chorizo sausage is an impressive one skillet meal for everyone. Use well fermented kimchi and whole shrimp for a keeper flavor.

If someone is asking us today to choose one country that we would like to travel, it would be Spain.

We might choose a different country tomorrow but for today? It is definitely Spain.

When we think of Spain, Paella comes next. (Can’t resist not to think of food) Paella is a famous Spanish rice dish cooked with various meat and/or seafood in one pan. Saffron is often added to give the irresistible golden color and a hint of flavor to the dish.

The idea of making our Spanish-Korean fusion style Paella came up unexpectedly.

We had bought some large tiger prawns a while ago and kept them in the freezer. We were taking them out thinking of making shrimp tempura for dinner. As we were shutting our freezer door, a small packet of frozen sausage fell off on our foot. (Ouch! that hurts!!) we picked it up. It was the Chorizo sausages. We had large tiger prawns on one hand and a packet of Chorizo sausage on the other. We turned around, and there was a container of fermented kimchi on our counter that we were going to fry up to make something. With all these 3 ingredients in our sight? Sayonara (goodbye) to the shrimp tempura and Hola (Hello) to Paella!

The result was outstanding. We are so glad that the Chorizo sausage fell off on us accidentally. The dinner was satisfying and we are sitting down here to share with you how we made our fusion paella – with a Korean touch!

Here is the accidental love affair! kimchi (fermented if possible), chorizo sausages, and jumbo shrimps.

For the rice, it is best to use medium grain but all we had was Korean style short grain. There are times in life you just have to make a keeper out of what you got when you don’t have everything.

Rinse your rice until the water runs clear. Drain and set aside.

Here is our chosen shrimp guy for a demonstration.

We want to use the whole shrimp to bring the full flavor in the dish but we know our family won’t like to peel the shrimp shells as they are eating. (and we bet you don’t either) So this is what we did. Using a toothpick we poked under the first notch of the shrimp back and pull out the gunk to devein.

Then we peel the shell off the body part only. The shrimp head holds lots of flavor that you want to keep while cooking. By peeling off the shell on the body, the body meat will fall off effortlessly from the head.

Poor guy.., he looks a little shy for being naked.

Now, heat a paella pan or shallow skillet with some olive oil. Saute chopped onion and garlic until soft.

Add chopped kimchi and chorizo sausage and continue to cook for 3-5 minutes.

Add the rice and toss around.

Stir in chicken stock,

crushed tomatoes,

paprika, and a bay leaf. If you have some saffron (and don’t mind using in this recipe), this is a good time to add.

Stir to combine and bring to boil. Reduce the heat to low. And NO MORE STIRRING at this point. Simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the liquid is reduced by half.

Place your naked shrimps in your artistic manner. Simmer for 3-5 minutes.

Turn your shrimp to the other side and simmer for another 3-5 minutes.

We like to push the shrimp gently to bury in the rice just a little. We added some frozen peas to let the world know that we don’t forget to eat our greens…

They are cooking up nicely.

Toward the end you will see the liquid is pretty much absorbed by rice and you need to either sense or smell the rice getting toasty on the bottom crust part of paella. When your rice is tender and the shrimp is fully cooked, sprinkle some fresh parsley if you have. And serve this flavorful fusion dish hot off the pan.

This is satisfying dish, guys. The subtle tomato flavor binds kimchi and chorizo up nicely. The bottom had a nice socarrat crust that we always love from paella. Since we used the short grain, the texture of rice is a little stickier than we hoped for, but still tasty.

The possibilities of making a savory dish with kimchi is abundant. If you have lots of fermented cabbage kimchi in your fridge, Try this paella fusion. You won’t regret.