Theme 8: Kimchi basics
Kimchi is a
fermented, raw vegetable dish. Koreans
typically use napa cabbage, but any variety of cabbage would work.
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| kimchi ready for fermentation! |
Cooking
Tip:
The key to
making kimchi is in the brining process so that veggies are nicely seasoned
before being mixed with kimchi paste. A
simplified Kimchi paste would consist of garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes,
fish sauce, salt & sugar. Every
Korean family seems to have different secret recipes! This would be my version. :)
Ingredients:
napa cabbage (1 head, about 4 lb), brining salt
(preferred salt would be sea salt, Korean grocery stores carry salt made
specifically for kimchi making, you may need about 1.5 cups.) green onions (5 stems, chopped 2 inch long pieces, optional), garlic
(2 heads, finely chopped), ginger (2 inch long, chopped finely), fish sauce
(1/4 cup, but it’s up to you, optional), red pepper flakes (1 cup, “go-choo-ga-roo”), sugar
(1TB).
Easy kimchi for beginners
Step1: Cut cabbage in half, sprinkle with sea salt (1 cup),
add cold water just enough to soak the cabbage.
Brine until the cabbage becomes pliable and nicely seasoned (meaning not
too salty, nor not too bland to eat it raw) for about 8 hours.
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| napa cabbage cut in half for salting and brining |
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| napa cabbage in brining solution |
Step2: Make kimchi paste by mixing the garlic,
ginger, fish sauce, and red pepper flakes, and sugar (1TB). You can process all the ingredients together.
Step 3: Drain the cabbage and rinse well with cold water, place cabbage in a colander, cut cabbage into quarters.
Step 4: Place cabbage in a big mixing bowl and add kimchi paste, stir well.
Step 5: Season to taste; you may need more salt, fish sauce, or sugar. Kimchi should be slightly salty at this point.
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| napa cabbage ready to be mixed with kimchi paste |
Step 6: Place kimchi in a jar, cover and leave at
room temp for about 2 days. Store in fridge once it has fermented to your liking.
Congratulations for making the most difficult Korean dish ever, in my
opinion, that is! Hope it was a success!! 😊
*note: if you are using green cabbage, chop cabbage in bite size pieces and sprinkle with salt and pour water enough to submerge the vegetable until it becomes pliable, for about 3 hours.
*note: if you are using green cabbage, chop cabbage in bite size pieces and sprinkle with salt and pour water enough to submerge the vegetable until it becomes pliable, for about 3 hours.