There were at least three grilled cheese sandwich recipes in the old blog but none was republished in this one. The reason? I wanted better photos to go with them. And I did intend to take new ones. Then, I came across a very Asian grilled cheese sandwich and I decided that I won’t be reproducing the old recipes after all. Instead, treat this as the first of many Asian-inspired grilled cheese sandwich recipes.
Where did I get the idea for this? An Instagram post of an American-Korean cook who creates recipes she learned from her mom. Instagram (and Threads) may be full of fake news and fake recipes that don’t match the accompanying AI-generated photos but, once in a while, there are true gems.
Note that this is not a replica of the original. The kimchi grilled cheese sandwich in the Instagram post used cabbage kimchi and crusty rustic bread. I had neither but I was raring to make my version of the sandwich. What I had were store-bought Japanese milk bread and green onion kimchi (made by my daughter Alex).
I did follow the instructions for prepping the kimchi as sandwich filling. The green onions were snipped into much shorter pieces before they were sauteed in butter.
The bread was toasted on both sides with butter before the sandwiches were assembled.
A slice of toast went back into the pan, cheese slices were arranged on top and the sauteed green onion kimchi was spread over the cheese. The other slice of bread was dropped in to cover the fillings and everything was heated together until the cheese had softened.
Grilled cheese and green onion kimchi sandwich
Ingredients
- ¼ cup green onion kimchi (pa-kimchi) homemade or store-bought
- 3 tablespoons butter divided
- 2 slices bread
- cheese slices (Monterey Jack is used here but feel free to substitute your preferred cheese) as many as you like
Instructions
- Using kitchen shears or a sharp knife, cut the green onions into shorter pieces.
- Heat a tablespoon of butter in a small frying pan and saute the kimchi, along with the juices, until the liquid has evaporated and the butter has been absorbed. Set aside.
- In a larger frying pan, melt a tablespoon of butter, lay a slice of bread on the melted butter, cook until lightly browned, flip and cook the opposite side in the residual butter until lightly browed as well. Do the same with the second slice of bread.
- In the now dry pan, lay a slice of toasted bread. Arrange the cheese slices on top then carefully spread the sauteed kimchi on the cheese slices. Cover with the other piece of toast.
- Cover the pan. Over low heat, cook the sandwich for a minute or so then flip and cook the other side until the cheese softens and melts.
- Serve the sandwich immediately.
