I'm paying homage to my ancestors today... Yes, today, I am basking in the vast culinary knowledge of my Korean lineage. Today... is... Kimchi day.
Kimchi and I have an interesting relationship. As the national identity of the tiny peninsular country of my birth, Kimchi was pretty much my 3rd parent. This dish is so much a part of the culture that the ministry of Korean Spirit and Culture has deemed it the 49th wonder of Korea. No joke. It even gets it's own day in the Korean calendar, November 22. Supposedly everyone makes their winter supply of Kimchi on November 22 (since you know, there aren't local Korean cabbages available during the harsh winters and how could you go for 6 months without Kimchi-are-you-insane?!). If anyone remembers, last year there was a huge shortage of cabbage that almost created a riot. My Korean contacts furiously FB updated the woes of having to eat subpar Chinese cabbage in their Kimchi.
Anyway, when I went to do my weekly share of farmwork at Stoney Hedgerow, I was told that there was an abundance of 'Asian Greens' this week.
This is what I imagined.
Yes, sackfuls of cabbage.
This is what I got...
One head of cabbage... :( My mom would make fun of my pitiful supply. But I understand - to those with a weak stomach, I guess one head of cabbage WOULD make your head explode trying to decide what to do with it all....
So despite my ongoing national-identity crisis, the first thing that popped out of my mouth when I saw cabbage.... I CAN MAKE KIMCHI!! Yes, for real. Darn, my genes.
Even though I can't do this
in my heart and soul, ajummas, I am there in spirit.
For those that have never heard of Kimchi... the closest, and best, explanation I've been able to come up with is... a spicy asian version of sauerkraut. In essence, it's a lactofermented cabbage that has been flavored with spicy peppers of doom (amongst other things)....
I've had several people in the past ask me if I knew how to make kimchi... and I basically was like "no". Why? Because it's something mom makes 4 times a year. She goes to the Korean grocer, buys 2 giant boxes of cabbages (usually about 40 heads, I think) and then makes it in these giant sterlite 20 gallon containers and then fills our garage fridge with it. Americans have deep freezers, Koreans have kimchi fridges.
And these things are no joke. They can blow any American deep freezer out of the water. They're temperature and humidity controlled vessels with built in silver nano-particle containing containers that maximize the flavor of your kimchi while keeping it as fresh as possible for as long as possible. I swear, some of them are sentient....
Whatever, I'm a woman now, mom no longer makes kimchi for me, and I would never be caught purchasing a 5.99 quart size jar of kimchi. Basphemy! Welp, the problem is, as ubiquitous Kimchi is, it also means everyone has their own recipe for kimchi... like how every Mexican wife has her own salsa... and Italians, tomato sauce... and EVERYONE claims their wife makes the best kimchi. Yeah, whatever. OK, so problem - no recipe is ever written down. It just gets passed down through tradition of working in the kitchen. It's supposed to be a big moment.. you know, the moment you learned to speak, walk, get married.... make Kimchi. Well, I didn't have that big day, because.... traditionally, you learn how to make it from your mother-in-law... so that you can make Kimchi how your husband likes it. Hahahahahahhaha. As if I was ever going to marry a Korean man.
OK, so here it is, I'm starting my own tradition of learning how to make Kimchi... learned through the vast knowledge provided by the internet. I have collected, absorbed, and digested all of the information and so now I have my own recipe... I call it Kimchi chez Amy.
I've decided that I want to go with a southern style of Kimchi. Regionally, the south add more red peppers to their kimchi and less seafood (they stick to oysters if feeling fancy, while I think the more northern versions have all sorts of weird stuff like squid and shrimp and stuff... all raw, of course). I'm not feeling that fancy (although I DO LOVE oyster Kimchi.. omg...)
If you want to be fancy even more, usually you leave the cabbage whole and just quarter it, but I'm not fancy. I find that Kimchi is a lot less troublesome to eat if you cop out and just slice up the cabbage before you leave it to ferment.
OK before you start anything, you pretty much need to clean your cabbage. I just washed it under cold water. Then chopped it into two inch-ish pieces,
put into a giant bowl, and filled with a 4:1 brine (4 parts water, 1 part salt).
I then covered this whole thing and left it somewhere safe for about an hour, or until cabbage became a little soft but not completely wilted and rubbery. I think most people leave them to soak until it's completely rubbery, but my mom seems to think that the water expelled by the cabbage actually has a lot of flavor to it so we don't soak our cabbage for that long. I love my mom's kimchi so I thought this was sound advice. While I waited, I also randomly julienned the asian pear/apple, green onion, daikon, and onion (all of these are optional, but if you want at least some flavor in your kimchi, I suggest putting something in). These went into the fridge until the cabbage was ready.
OK, after an hour, I drained and rinsed the cabbage with cold water, and set aside.
Then the fun part! OK, so basically, what I wanted to do was make a paste with the remaining ingredients to put on the cabbage. First I made a garlic paste in a mortar (and ginger too, since I used fresh). To save time, you can just use the jarred stuff but I go shopping enough to have fresh garlic and ginger around all the time (yay me!). I then mixed the rice flower with about a cup of water and cooked on low heat. It formed a nice little paste, which I then took off the heat and mixed in the pepper flakes. Haha, and I should mention that in Korea, you buy pepper flakes and salt by the pound. Here's the smallest bag of pepper flakes I found...
What kind of person would needs LESS than 1 pound. Pshhhht...
I let that cool a little bit, then basically mixed that pepper mixture with the garlic/ginger paste, the julienned veggies/fruits, sesame seeds, and .5 remaining cup of salt. I then tossed the cabbage with all of this stuff. Voila Kimchi! You then store them in jars. Traditionally, it would go in giant earthenware jars (and yes, you have to wear your hanbok when you make kimchi... jk)
Today, they go in plastic bins and right into the kimchi fridge. I store mine in glass jars. I have these great Ball jars
but I felt a little nostalgic so I stored them in a used pickle jar like my mom always used to do :)
OK, this has to mature (and make that yummy tangy flavor everyone loves so much) but this is pretty much ready to eat. I kind of like mine not so fermented, but everyone's entitled to their own opinion. Yum!
Kimchi chez Amy
1 head of cabbage (napa style, please, none of that round cabbage lest you feel my wrath)
1.5 cups of salt (yes, you read that right, 1 cup. I suggest you just go crazy like my mom used to do when there was a salt sale at the local grocery)
water
1 onion
1 bunch of green onions (at least 5 plants)
1/2 asian pear or apple (optional)
1 small dikon (optional)
1 head of garlic
2T ginger paste
1 t rice flour
1 cup Korean chili flakes
1t sugar
1. Wash and chop up cabbage and put into a large bowl.
2. Mix up water and salt in 4:1 ratio and soak cabbage for 1 hour.
3. Drain and rinse the cabbage well and set aside.
4. Thinly slice and julienne all other vegetables and set aside with cabbage.
5. In a mortar, crush ginger and garlic (if using fresh) into a paste
6. Mix rice flour with 1/2 cup of water and heat on low on stove until it comes to a paste. Take off the heat and mix in chili flakes, ginger paste, garlic paste, salt, sugar, sesame seeds, and various seafoods (optional).
7. Spoon the chili mixture onto the mixed vegetables and mix thoroughly but gingerly (don't bruise the Kimchi!).
8. Carefully move kimchi into your storage vessel, pack tightly, and allow to ferment at room temperature for a day then move into the fridge! It's ready to eat right away or months later, depending on preference!
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