Kimchi (Korean-style Pickled/Fermented Chinese Cabbage)

My love affair with anything to do with South Korean culture started in 2003. I went to Indonesia to visit my family after living in Canada for a year and a half. There was a big trend of South Korean soap operas and my sister-in-law insisted that I had to watch a Korean drama called All About Eve. Long story short, I gave in and ended up watching the drama till 3 or 4 in the morning. Not sure if I was bought in with the story line or the handsome leading actor. Soon after I came back to Canada, I started to explore Korean town in Toronto to savage Korean food.

Years later, Korean food is still one of my all-time favourite cuisines and I believe this fondness of mine has influenced my toddler's palate. When I was expecting (without knowing) my first son, I was craving for Korean food. I had to eat 3 or 4 times of Korean food 3 weeks in a row and my husband thought I was going crazy. Soon to reveal, I was expecting a baby and my son, toddler A, now loves Korean food. It's amazing to see how a 2.5 year toddler loves his kimchi and speak a few of Korean words. A few years later, this behaviour came back and I knew I was expecting another one. Let's just hope baby E will love Korean cuisine as well. 

Without denying, kimchi is Korea's pride. The country is know as the land of kimchi. It's served 365 days, 3 meals a day. It is made of Chinese cabbage that has been salted/pickled and then heavily seasoned with lots of hot peppers and garlic. Kimchi is then left to be fermented. I, personally, prefer fresh few day old kimchi. Once fermented, it becomes sour and rich in probiotic. Probiotic provides a healthy bacteria in your gut flora, similarly found in yogurt, kefir and sauerkraut. Once sour, it can still be served as a side dish OR it can be added into stews called kimchi jigae (kimchi tofu stew), kimchi pancake and kimchi fried rice. I posted a kimchi fried rice recipe before on this blog. Kimchi can also be added into sandwiches for added flavour.

The rule of salting the chinese cabbage is using the ratio of 10 to 1. For every 10 lb of chinese cabbage, you use 1 cup of sea salt. The most crucial part of this recipe is to use sea salt. I had used regular salt previously and it gave bitter taste. For best result, I highly recommend you to mix the ingredients with your hands. In terms of shelf life (storage), it can be stored indefinitely in the fridge. Be certain to put on a pair of gloves of you will suffer the aftermath.  Here is the kimchi recipe and I hope you enjoy it.

Skill Level: Easy

Serves: N/A

INGREDIENTS:

• 3lbs Chinese cabbage
• 1/3 cup sea salt
• 1 lb white radish
• 1 bunch green onion
• 1.5 bulbs of garlic, peeled
• 1 thumb sized ginger, cut into small pieces
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 1/2 cup Korean red chili flakes (gochugaru)
• 4 tbsp sugar 

METHOD:

1. Quarter the Chinese cabbage and remove the core
2. Slice the cabbage into bite-size, give a quick rinse 
3. In a big bowl or container, add water to cover the Chinese cabbage. Stir in sea salt and soak the cabbage for 1.5 hours
4. Place a plate over the cabbage to give weight so that the vegetable is submerged in the salted water
5. After 1.5 hours, give the cabbage a rinse 3 times. Squeeze the water out
6. Peel the white radish and give a quick wash. Cut into 0.5 cm matchsticks
7. Rinse green onions and cut into 1" length 
8. To make the sauce: place peeled garlic, ginger and fish sauce in a blender or food processor
9. Grind until fine, pour into a big shallow bowl (big enough to mix in your chinese cabbage and radish) 
10. Add in Korean red chili flakes and sugar. Mix well
11. Stir in radish, green onions,mix
12. Add in the Chinese cabbage and mix well
13. Taste and you may want to add more fish sauce if you prefer saltier
14. Place the seasoned kimchi into a container and leave on kitchen counter for a few days (2 - 3 days) to ferment

Kimchi Fried Rice with Smoked Ham

 

If I have to name one dish that I must eat before I die, this must be the dish! Kimchi is a national dish of South Korea. It's a pickle made of Chinese cabbage, garlic, ginger, hot pepper flakes and fish sauce. It is then fermented and can last indefinitely.

At my house, we frequently have leftover cooked rice in the fridge and chances are, we also never run out of kimchi. This is a dish that I whip up quickly for a busy weeknight family dinner. You can either use a homemade kimchi or store bought kimchi for this dish. The rice is perfectly seasoned with gochujang, a Korean fermented hot pepper paste, which you can find easily in Asian grocery stores.

Skill Level: Easy 

Serves: 5-6

INGREDIENTS: 

• 5 cups cooked long grain white rice, overnight in fridge 
• 1 cup chopped smoked ham 
• 1.5 cups kimchi
• 1 cup frozen mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, corn, green beans, lima beans) 
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp gochujang (Korean fermented hot pepper paste)
• 2 springs of green onions, finely chopped
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced 
• 5 tbsp cooking oil
• black pepper, to tast

METHODS: 

1. In a wok or cooking pan, heat up cooking oil till medium hot
2. Add in sliced onions and garlic. Saute till translucent
3. Stir in chopped ham, cook over high heat till slightly brown
4. Add in frozen mixed vegetables and kimchi. Cook for 2 minutes
5. Add in cooked rice, gochujang paste, soy sauce and black pepper
6. Stir all ingredients till the rice is uniformly coated with all wet ingredients with no white granules left. Cook under high heat for another 5 minutes or until you hear some "toasted popping" sounds
7. Stir in chopped green onions, saute for another minute and turn off the heat
8. Serve hot with sunny side-up eggs