This recipe leans on two ingredients I’ve come to rely on for bold, savory flavor: chili crisp and kimchi. Once sold mostly in Asian markets, over the past several years they’ve become much more widely available. I pull out my jar of chili crisp – the Chinese condiment of dried chiles and oil mixed with aromatics, such as garlic or shallots, and a crunch of nuts and/or seeds – to drizzle on eggs or roasted potatoes, toss into stir-fries or whisk into marinades.
And I can’t resist the deeply umami-rich kimchi – the Korean staple of seasoned, fermented vegetables. I fold it into omelets, layer it on sandwiches and use it to top grain bowls, to name a few uses. In this dish, chili crisp and kimchi quickly and easily elevate a simple meal of coleslaw and grilled pork cutlets, layering it with complex flavor.
(You can also use chicken cutlets, if that’s what you prefer.) The meat marinates in a mixture of soy sauce, chili crisp and honey while you prepare the slaw. The slaw is based on one I make by rote all summer long – shredded cabbage, grated carrot and some kind of thinly sliced onion – here, scallions – tossed with a creamy, tangy dressing of yogurt, mayonnaise and vinegar.
Only this version gets an addition of chopped kimchi, which infuses the slaw with an extraordinary, savory undertone. (I use a classic cabbage kimchi here, but any type will work.) Besides the compelling flavor the kimchi brings to the slaw, it also provides gut-friendly bacteria, maki.
