The best thing about kimchi is this: It packs so much flavor and complexity, you can use it to make lightning-quick meals that taste as if they took hours to prepare. This fried rice, for instance, comes together in mere minutes. Cutting up the cauliflower might be the most time-consuming part. And yet this dish is downright addictive. If you don’t have a wok, you can use a large nonstick skillet for this fried rice, but it will take a little longer to cook.

　　

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable or peanut oil

　　1/2 small (5 to 6 ounces) cauliflower, cored and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

　　1 cup cold cooked white or brown rice or farro (see page 143)

　　1/2 cup Cabbage and Pear Kimchi (page 18), or your favorite store-bought kimchi, chopped

　　1 scallion, white and green parts, thinly sliced

　　Soy sauce

　　

Step 1

Remember to have everything measured out and ready before you start, because with high-heat stir-frying, everything happens pretty quickly.

　　

Step 2

Heat a 14-inch flat-bottomed wok over high heat until a drop of water vaporizes within a second or two. Swirl in the oil to coat the sides and bottom. Add the cauliflower and stir-fry until it softens and starts to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Resist the urge to turn down the heat, and keep everything moving.

　　

Step 3

Add the rice, breaking it up with your fingers as you toss it into the wok. Use a heatproof spatula to keep the rice moving for 2 to 3 minutes, scooping and tossing and pressing the rice against the bottom and sides of the wok to sear it. Add the kimchi and scallion, and stir-fry until the kimchi heats through and the scallion softens, 30 to 60 seconds.

　　

Step 4

Season to taste with soy sauce, transfer to a dinner plate, and eat.

　　

Wok For One

Step 5

You’d think a wok would be too big for single-serving meals, but you’d be wrong. I use mine for fried rice and wouldn’t want to make it any other way. Even with smaller amounts, a regular-size wok (14 inches) provides the room you need to keep all the ingredients moving.

　　

Step 6

I don’t have a wok ring on my stove, but these days you can buy woks that are flat on the very bottom but still have the bowl-like shape that allows such great tossing, scooping, and turning.

　　

Step 7

Buy a carbon-steel wok, not a nonstick one. The carbon steel conducts heat so efficiently that you can get the thing blazing hot, which is what you want for effective stir-frying. Once the wok is properly seasoned (I am a devotee of Grace Young’s instructions in The Breath of a Wok), it will turn as slick as glass—much more nonstick than anything coated.

　　Reprinted with permission from Serve Yourself: Nightly Adventures in Cooking for One by Joe Yonan. Text copyright © 2011 by Joe Yonan; photographs copyright © 2011 by Ed Anderson. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.Joe Yonan is the food and travel editor at the Washington Post, where he writes the award-winning "Cooking for One" column. Joe's work also earned the Post the 2009 and 2010 James Beard Foundation's award for best food section. He is the former travel editor at the Boston Globe. Visit www.joeyonan.com.