Kogi Truck Kimchi Quesadilla

My Homemade Kimchi Quesadilla

For those of you not familiar with the Kogi Food Truck, it's really one of the "OG" LA fusion food trucks, and one that helped transform the image of food trucks from roach coaches to gourmet mobile restaurants; helping to kick off the current fad of food truck mania sweeping the nation. Kogi and it's founder - the now legendary Chef Roy Choi - have since expanded the empire into 5 trucks, a number of sit down restaurants, and a cookbook/memoir about Chef Choi.

One of.... Scratch that... My FAVORITE item on the Mexican-Korean fusion Kogi food truck menu is and has always been the Kimchi Quesadilla. This isn't just my favorite item on the Kogi food truck menu, it's probably my favorite item (so far) on ANY food truck I've ever tasted.



A year or two ago a story went around the internet that Chef Choi was considering drastic changes to the menu, replacing some of their signature dishes, including the Kimchi Quesadilla. I (and a lot of the readers who saw the story) instantly went into panic mode. Fortunately, the menu has not changed, and I'm assuming customer pressure kept those items on the truck. One good thing came out of the scare, however; I learned how to make a very good approximation of the Kogi Kimchi Quesadilla.


This recipe makes 2 servings similar to those served on the Kogi truck. That being said, I ate both servings - they were too good.

INGREDIENTS:

For the Quesadilla:
2 flour tortillas (10")
1 tablespoon of canola, vegetable or peanut oil
1-2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 slices of pepper jack cheese
2 slices of cheddar cheese
Small amount of Cilantro
1/2 - 2/3 cup of prepared Napa Cabbage Kimchi

For the Sauce:
2 tablespoons of taco sauce
2 tablespoons of Kimchi liquid
1 teaspoon gochujang (or similar Korean style hot pepper paste)
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds


DIRECTIONS:

The Quesadilla recipe itself was easy to figure out, however, the sauce took me a couple tries. What I've come up with is not the way they do it at Kogi, I'm sure, but it tastes very similar and is easy to make. I believe they make a Salsa Roja and combine that with sesame seeds and either Gochujang or Chogochujang (which is gochujang mixed with vinegar and other seasonings). My idea was to take a store bought bottle of "taco sauce" (you know, the stuff they would put on tacos in school cafeterias because it's not too spicy) and spice it up a bit. The store bought taco sauce also makes for a good salsa roja-like platform to begin.

 Simply add all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and mix well with a fork or whisk.

Your sauce is complete. Set aside and use any leftover sauce as you would a good hot sauce.

Next you'll need to preheat a pan or skillet large enough for a 10" tortilla over medium heat. Add 1-2 tablespoons of butter and coat the pan.

 Once the butter is melted, add at least an overflowing 1/2 cup of Kimchi.
 

I added some store bought Kimchi in this picture - the one thing I would do differently in the future is to chop up or shred the Kimchi into small bits. That way when you take a bite out of the finished quesadilla, you don't accidentally pull out a huge chuck of cabbage.

You'll want to stir your Kimchi every couple minutes until the liquid evaporates and the Kimchi begins to caramalize - about 5 to 8 minutes on medium heat.

 Once ready, I usually empty the cooked Kimchi into a bowl.

You can use the same pan, just wipe it out with a damp paper towel first. Then add 1 tablespoon of oil.

Once the pan is coated, lay down your first flour tortilla, and cover that fairly evenly with 2 slices of pepper jack cheese (I like to rip it into pieces to cover the tortilla).

Next I add some cilantro (you can skip this if you don't have any).

Add your cooked, caramelized Kimchi.

Then top it off with the cheddar.

And top with the second flour tortilla.

Cook on medium heat (or a little under medium) for a couple minutes or until the color looks like the one below (don't burn it).

Flip it over gently and cook a few more minutes until both sides are done and transfer to a cutting board.

I usually use a Pizza Wheel to get a good even cut on my quesadilla.

Spoon a little of the sauce around the center of the quesadilla and then cut in half.

Cut in half again.

And then cut in half again and again on the diagonal.

And we're ready to plate. Serve along side the bowl of sauce.

The Kimchi Quesadillas I got from the Kogi truck are on the left and mine are on the right.

As you can see the color is a little different. They get a bit more char on their tortillas, and they cover most of the top of the quesadilla with the sauce. I think it looks a little better and is less messy to eat by only covering a portion of the quesadillas. Also, their sauce is probably blended, so the sesame seeds aren't as apparent.

Regardless, when you take a bite of these Kimchi Quesadillas, you're going to think you just ate  genuine Kogi...

Enjoy!