I managed to make Kimchi since I am home a lot due to this pandemic. It is spicy and delicious with garlic and ginger. Once you prepare all the cabbage (excellent for health) and seasoning, you just mix them together and store in jars in the refrigerator.
Ingredients
Napa cabbage 1 head
Coarse sea salt (*It has to be sea salt, not table salt)
For Seasoning
Sweet rice powder 1 TS
Filtered water 2 ½ Cup (* Important because you don’t want the taste of tab water)
Korean red pepper flakes 1 Cup (Taeyahngcho brand is the only brand I would use for best taste)
Premium Korean Red Pepper Coarse Powder, 1 Pound, $15.99 Amazon
Garlic (minced) 3 TS
Ginger (minced) ½ TS
Sugar 1 - 1 ½ TS
Asian pear (minced) 1 (You can use regular pear but make sure it is ripe- makes a difference in the taste)
Onion (minced) ½ of an onion
Daikin radish ½
Green onion 1 bundle (I only used the green parts)
Korean sand lance & fish sauce 4 TS (click on the photo to the right- they have it on Amazon)
Salted shrimp 2 TS (Only for Winter Kimchi- I didn’t have it, so used tiny dried shrimps from a Chinese store)
Fresh oysters 7-8 (I use Korean oysters frozen at the source) or fresh calamaris or shrimp
Filtered water 2 ½ Cup (* Important because you don’t want the taste of tab water)
HOW TO:
- Rinse the cabbage in water well and cut it into small pieces. (roughly 2x3 inches, but feel free to cut any size you want)
- Soak them in salt water for 3 hours so that they become soft and marinated in salt.
- Rinse them under water. Taste a piece after rinsing to see how salty it is. It should be a little salty.
- Squeeze water out of the cabbages. (you don't want kimchi too be too watery- wear gloves)
- Pour the seasoning over the cabbages and mix well wearing plastic gloves to coat all the cabbage pieces with red sauce.
- Put the seasoned cabbages in a container and refrigerate. It will be ready to eat in 2-3 days.
HOW TO MAKE SEASONING:
1. Put a 1 TS of sweet rice power (you can subsitute this with flour) in 2 ½ Cup of cold filtered water in a pan. Boil on medium heat but stir frequently so that it is mixed well until it thickens a bit and turns semi-transparent Make sure to cool the broth before using.
(Or soak sweet rice in water for hours and use this)
2. Cut the ½ - 1 radish into thin strips.
3. Mix all the above seasoning ingredient with # 1 (filtered water- it is already mixed with sweet rice powder).
4. Taste it to see to if it needs more salt, garlic, etc.
Kimchi is a great food staple to have. Not only is healthy (abundant with live culture) but also it is tasty. After enjoying it fresh for a week or so, you can make fried rice with diced ham, butter and a little bit of sesame oil.
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