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

EVERYTHING COLOURFUL SALAD

I declare that "Spring is finally here"; I say finally because at last something has bloomed in my garden - tulips. Big day for me since I have been eyeing all the opened tulips in the neighbourhood as I take our dog for his daily walk. "Do they fertilize, do they have better sun exposure or have I bungled up the hardiest of perennials" ? are thoughts that I wrestle with during every outing. So as I proudly took pictures of our first blooms of 2015, I tried not to dwell too much on the fact that my weeds are probably crying out for my attention too.
Pardon the digression, I must get back to my Everything Colourful Salad. What better time than spring to make a salad that is bursting with the colours and flavours of the season. I made this salad on Saturday and we had leftovers for breakfast today with a hard boiled egg. A perfect protein rich salad that is not just easy to make and healthy, it tastes good too. My recipe used the vegetables I had but feel free to substitute. I made a dressing with pomegranate molasses that my dear friend M brought back from Iran. I have also used "Magiun de prune" to make this dressing and it is just as delicious. Now "Magiun" for my non Romanian readers is a plum paste like jam made using a sweet plum variety that is cooked down for up to 10 hours without adding any sugar. The result is a thick, dark purple paste that is slightly sweet and sour. We bought a jar from the local Romanian deli and I must admit I got a real kick out of seeing a label with just one ingredient on it - Plums.
This is the ideal "cut up and pack for a couple of days" salad, add dressing when serving. I layered this is a deep dish and used it over the weekend and the leftovers this morning for breakfast. Put in individual containers to pack into lunch boxes with some dressing on the side. Play with colours, enjoy your salad : >


Skill Level: Easy 

Serves: 4 to 5 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup cooked quinoa 
• 2 cups cooked chickpeas
• 2 medium sized carrots, thinly sliced 
• 1 red bell pepper chopped into small pieces 
• 2 stalks celery chopped into small pieces 
• 11/2 cup chopped red kale
• 2 tbsp crumbled feta (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Dressing:

• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 1 tbsp  honey
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 3-4 tbsp warm water (the molasses and the honey make it quite thick)
• salt and pepper to taste 

METHOD: 

1. Wash and cook quinoa 1/2 cup cooked in 1 cup of water. (I usually cook 1 cup so extras can be added to other salads, soups or used as a side )
2. Put the cooked chickpeas in a food processor and pulse until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs (if using canned, drain liquid, rinse thoroughly and pat dry before pulsing in the food processor)
3. Wash and slice carrots, chop pepper and celery. Cut up the kale
4. To make the dressing add all the ingredients together and mix well until combined. Add water to thin out as needed. Check seasoning
5. If serving immediately add the quinoa to the vegetables and toss with the dressing. Crumble feta and add if using.