Kimchi nachos are a thing and they are really dynamite. KA-BOOM. The totally cook a rific thing about these is that you can dress them up just like any other nachos: to your preference. Mine were vegetarian but you can add meat or your own cheese.

One thing you do want to do, however, when heating the ingredients up all together, is do use an oven, not a microwave. I’m not quite sure how good kimchi would be in the microwave and what on earth it would smell like afterwards. (Your microwave, I mean.) Plus, it gives the chips a bit more crisp, rather than sogginess.

Ingredients for the nachos:

• Bag of tortilla chips
• 1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 a diced red onion
• equal parts: chili powder, cumin, Korean red pepper powder and dried cilantro
• about a cup kimchi
• 1 avocado
• handful of fresh cilantro
• olive oil for cooking

Ingredients for the cheese sauce (This makes quite a lot, enough for other things.)

• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 flour
• about 2-3 cups of milk substitute (you may not use all of this)
• lots of processed cheese (maybe 1-2 cups for a nice consistency)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

NOTE: My original intention was to make a vegan roux and then add an organic processed cheese (the only kind of organic cow’s cheese I can find in Korea) to make the sauce. However, I needed more cheese and the roux was too sweet because I used coconut oil as my fat. It was a great consistency but I wanted more cheesy rather than saucy. So I added more cheese to the ingredient list. Also, if you have a recipe that calls for real cheese added to the roux, then by all means use that. Since processed is my only option in Korea, that’s the way I went with it.

• If you’ve never made a roux, it’s sort of exactly like making gravy. Start heating up your fat in a (preferably stainless steel) pan. After its heated, add equal parts flour and cook until puffy. Start adding your milk (or milk substitute) until it starts look like a sauce by adding a little at a time and letting it cook until puffy again. Eventually it won’t be puffy but creamy. Then add your cheese until melted. Add your salt and pepper. Done!
• Add oil to your cooking pan and toss in your diced onions. Cook until soft. Add your black beans and spice mixture and cook until well incorporated.
• Add your chips to a oven proof bowl. Then layer with bean mixture, cheese sauce, and kimchi on top.
• Bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes. Keep an eye on the tortilla chips so that they don’t burn!
• After taking it out of the oven, add heaps of avocado and cilantro.