Kimchi
Fermented Asian Cabbage
What is kimchi? Kimchi is a collective term for vegetable dishes that have been salted, seasoned, and fermented.
Korean food has become so popular that even I couldn’t resist the temptation to dabble in Korean cuisine and end up loving their cuisine!
Here’s the truth, during the lockdowns I run out of things to watch on Netflix. I haven’t watched any Korean dramas before but my teenagers love them. I have heard the popular Kpop songs before but it didn’t make it to my playlist yet.
The first Kdrama I watched was ‘Sweet Home’, I really enjoyed it and continued to watch other Kdramas after that. What I noticed in all Kdrama is that food is always involved in scenes, I always get swayed easily when it comes to food, I’m a big foodie too and I’m always jealous at what they’re eating and want to try it too. The food looks sooo good and the actors look like they’re enjoying it soo much that I want some of what they’re eating and I want some too.
This is when I started eating more Korean dishes, we do Korean bbq at home too and I bought the round grill they use. Of course we need kimchi to go with our bbq, so I had to learn how to make it.
I watched a lot of videos and read recipes online but I really like Modern Pepper and Korean Bapsang videos on how they made their kimchi.They are the 2 inspirations to my Kimchi recipe.
When I make a big batch of Kimchi, I normally give some out to family and friends. They seem to enjoy my kimchi so I guess whatever I’m doing is working.
Now we have kimchi in our fridge along with Atchara (filipino pickle) in the fridge.
I hope you will enjoy my Kimchi recipe.
Please let me know what you think in the comments.
Ingredients
Cabbage
Chili Paste
Rice Paste
Instructions
Split the cabbage in half or slice them smaller. Whichever is suitable for you. Soak them in some water and salt. Leave them for 2 hours or longer until they have wilted and shrunk.
To make your rice paste, in a small pot add water and rice flour. On medium heat, mix them until you get a paste consistency. If they are too thick add a bit more water. Leave the paste on the side for later.
Julienne carrots and radish. Then slice the spring onions and them on the side for later.
Using a blender or food processor, add roughly chopped onions, ginger, garlic, pears, fermented shrimps, fish sauce, honey and the rice paste. Blitz the aromatics until you get a paste consistency.
In a large bowl, add julienne carrots, radish and spring onions. Pour the aromatic paste, add gochugaru flakes. If you want it mild just add 1/4 cup of gochugaru flakes and if you like spicy add more chili flakes. It really depends on what you like. Taste it as you go along, add more fish sauce or salt if you like it more savoury. Leave this on the side for later.
Wash and drain your cabbage. I washed mine about 8 times. Make sure you squeeze as much water out as possible.
Next, slowly add the chili mixture with the cabbage, cover each leaf with the chili mixture until all of the cabbage leaves are covered. Place them in an airtight container and leave them out to ferment overnight. The next day, put the kimchi in the fridge (refrigerator) and eat it as a condiment or cooked with your dish.
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