KIMCHI

Salam and good morning everyone..

Picture after 1 day of fermentation..

Uhmmm..I saw my cousin making these a few months ago and had a taste of it too..Thanks to Yan. 

I got excited when I saw someone mentioned that they had Kimchi..It reminded of days when we used to have a share in operating a Korean bed and breakfast in Bukit Bintang. Our Korean partners wife used to make loads of them and we used to eat them whilst having dinner together..those happy days..but I never get to learn how to make Kimchi eventhough she offered  to teach me many times. I love her cucumber Kimchi, very crunchy and nice..

Anyay, I am a person who cannot sit and wait..so I went to my nearest Tesco and look around for Kimchi..hahaha they have it but it was selling like RM9.90 for a small cookie jar..OMG I exclaimed to myself..no way am I going to pay that much for Kimchi no matter how desperate I as to eat it...(pssst does not look great anyway)..so I Googled and found what I think would taste like my Korean friend's Kimchi..

.( ahaha I can know the taste by just looking at the pictures hehehe)

Anyway, the original recipe is here..have a look at the video and then u will understand more.

Picture taken after I put the Kimchi paste.

Ingredients:

2 large size napa cabbages (about 8 pounds: 3.6 kg) and 2 Korean radishes (about 4-5 pounds: 2 kg) - I used only a 2.5 kg green Chinese Cabbage

1 ½ cup of Kosher salt - I used about a cup of sea salt

 ½ cup  sweet rice flour, ¼ cup sugar, water - I used plain flour

4 cups of hot pepper flakes - I used a packet of Tesco chili flakes

1 cup fish sauce,- i don't have at home so I replace with a cup of light soya sauce plus a teaspoon of ikan bilis stock

1 medium sized onion, minced (about 1 cup)

1 cup of  fresh garlic, minced

1 tbs minced ginger - I used about 2 tbsp instead

7 stalks of green onions, chopped diagnolly - I used 4 local daun bawang ( top green part I mixed with the kuchai below) and a stalk of leek

2 cups worth Buchu (Asian chives), chopped, - this is kuchai 

2 cups of matchstick-cut radish - did not use 

fresh oysters (optional) - did not use

Directions:

Cut the cabbages in half, and then slit each half through the core, but not through the rest of the leaves.

(Our local chinese cabbage is always eaten by bugs so I cut them out and clean them individually..so everything from here is done as such)

Soak each piece in cold water and sprinkle salt over the each leaf , and then set it aside for 2 hours.

*tip: the stems should get more salt than the leaves

Peel 2 kg of Korean radishes and cut them into 1 inch cubes. Do this by cutting them into several disks, and then cutting horizontally, and then vertically. Put them in a big bowl and sprinkle them with ¼ cup of salt. Then set these aside, too.

2 hours later, turn the pieces of cabbage over so they get salted evenly. Turn the radishes as well.

Another 2 hours later, you will see the cabbage look softer than before, and it should have shrunk.

*the total salting process will take 4 hours

Rinse the salted cabbage and radish with cold water 3 times.

Making Kimchi paste:

Make porridge

Put ½ cup of sweet rice flour and 3 cups of water into a skillet and mix them up. Then cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly.

When you see some bubbles, pour 1/4 cup of sugar into the porridge and stir one more minute. Then cool it down.

Place the cold porridge into a big bowl. Now you will add all your ingredients one by one.

Add  fish sauce, hot pepper flakes, crushed garlic, ginger, and onion

*tip: it’s much easier to use a food processor.

Add green onions, Asian chives, and radish.

Add  2 cups of frozen oysters, but this is optional. (I found out lots of people can’t eat them.)

Mix all ingredients well.

Are you ready to spread our paste on the leaves and make your kaktugi?

* I recommend you wear rubber gloves so that you don’t irritate your skin.

Spread the kimchi paste onto each leaf of the cabbage, and make a good shape out of the leaves by slightly pressing with both hands.

Put it into an air- tight sealed plastic container or glass jar. ( I used plastic containers)

Mix your leftover paste with your radish cubes (this is kaktugi).Check out my kakdugi (cubed radish kimchi) recipe if you want to make only kakdugi.

You can eat it fresh right after making or wait until it’s fermented. Put the Kimchi container at room temperature for 1 or 2 days and keep it in the refrigerator.

How do you know it’s fermented or not?

One or 2 days after, open the lid of the Kimchi container. You may see some bubbles with lots of liquids, or maybe sour smells. That means it’s already being fermented.

  

The recipe gives me 2 plastic containers..
Ps: Next time I will try with the fish sauce..but this i already good enough to me.

Try it and let me know.