Re: Around The World-Third Stop- Korea
Tonight at the grocery store, I picked up a Napa cabbage and a daikon radish. I'm waiting for Kimchee to come along and tell me how to use them.
Here are a couple I use and the first one we keep year around making another batch when it starts getting low.
My version of Mom's Kim Chee
Kim Chee is a pickled salad/condiment type food served at virtually every Korean meal. It is often compared to sauerkraut. It can be made not only with nappa cabbage, bok choy, as well as other types of radishes, greens, or cucumbers etc. It is salty, (spicy) hot, temperately cold, garlicky and tangy. Here is a short cut version.
THERE ARE THREE MAJOR STEPS TO MAKING KIM CHEE: 1. Salting the cabbage 2. Making the pepper paste/sauce. 3. Combining the pepper with the cabbage and putting it into jars. YOU WILL NEED:
1/2-1 c pickling salt
1 ea Head Nappa Cabbage
1 ea daikon raddish (one third to one half the size of the cabbage)
1 ea head of garlic, minced
1-2 Tb ginger, minced
2-8 Tb Korean red pepper flakes, or fresh hot red pepper to taste, or a combination.
2 ea green onions, julienned
1 tb sugar
X A large bowl for soaking the cabbage in brine solution.
X Large glass containers to put the finished kim chee into.
Directions
First, the cabbage must be salted in brine solution. Cut the cabbage in half lengthwise. Then cut a second time lengthwise to form quarter cabbage chunks.
Mix the salt with enough water to cover all the cabbage in a large bowl.
Soak the cabbage in the brine solution, making sure that all parts are submerged. If they are not, you can re-stack the cabbage half way through the soaking process, moving bottom chunks to the top, and vice versa. I tend to use a plate on top before putting a lid on the soaking bowl.
Leave the cabbage for 2-4 hours. At the end of this time, the cabbage should be wilted, supple, limp and salty in taste. (optional: you could also lightly salt each stalk of each leaf which is much thicker than the leafy part in order that the leafy part and stalk are evenly seasoned. To do this you must rub pickling salt sparsely on each of the stalks. This is done midway through the soaking when the leaves are manageable wilted. )
Reserve some of the brine solution. Rinse the cabbage and then cut into julienne type bite size pieces about an inch and a half long and drain the cabbage. Discard the cabbage core.
In the mean time, prepare the daikon raddish and the pepper sauce/paste.
The daikon must either be shredded into julienne strips. Add to the daikon: red pepper flakes, red pepper, minced garlic, minced ginger, julienned green onion, salt to taste (1 Tbsp) and sugar, then toss. If you are using your hands, beware of the the hot pepper if you burn easily.
Finally, thoroughly mix the pepper mixture with the cabbage by tossing. Then check for salt and red pepper and seasoning in general and adjust if necessary. Then pack into glass jars. The mixture should have a liquid sauce in the jar and more will form as it sits. It is important that the mixture is in a sauce. Should you need to add more liquid, take some reserved brine and rinse the final mixing bowl and add to bottles so that all the cabbage pieces are just submerged in liquid. You can keep a bottle outside for a day to help it ripen more quickly, otherwise store in the refrigerator, tightly capped.
The taste changes as it ripens. It is initially like a salad and then ferments to taste more sour. Kim chee compliments meals served with rice. It is a Korean staple. It is also good fried with butter or sesame oil, or stir fried with pork and tofu.
We keep a couple of 80 oz Vlasic pickle jars on hand all the time just for this. We always have some in the refrigerator. I got the original recipe from
http://asiarecipe.com/ I believe but I've had it for years with pretty much little change except as noted above.
Note: I also when I can find them use some of their hot peppers in it as well. Sometimes I will add a bit of fish stock to this as well but not for every ones tastes.
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Here is another using Cucumber which is more a Japanese adaption of the Korean dish.
CUCUMBER KIM CHEE
2 Japanese cucumbers
Table salt or finely ground sea salt
1 teaspoon coarse-ground Korean red pepper
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon peeled minced ginger
2 tablespoons (or more, as desired) minced green onion
Wash unpeeled cucumber, cut off ends and cut into chunks. In a nonreactive bowl, layer the chunks with a light sprinkling of salt between each layer. Toss and stir to distribute salt. Allow to sit for 20 minutes, then rinse off a piece and taste. If too salty, wash cucumber in cold water and proceed. If not salty enough, allow to marinate longer. When the flavor is right, drain and rinse in cold water.
In a bowl, stir together Korean red pepper, sugar, garlic, ginger and green onion. Add cucumber, toss well and pack into sterilized jars. Refrigerate; this is ready to eat the same day. Keeps about 2 weeks, refrigerated.
