How to make Kimchi

What is Kimchi?

Kimchi is made from vegetables, garlic, ginger, and fish sauce, it hits a range of flavours—sweet, sour, and spicy—and works as a condiment, an ingredient, a dip and a side dish all on its own.

You all probably know about health benefits of fermented food. Not only is it very healthy, but fermented food is very easy to make. Of course, you can always buy fermented food in a store, but usually it has a lot of preservatives you don’t want in your body. If you like fermented food, you will definitely like kimchi. Kimchi is a Korean dish made of various fermented vegetables, mainly napa cabbage and radish. You can eat it as a salad or to prepare it with pork or chicken in a wok. “Kimchi” actually means pickled vegetables when translated from Korean language.

Here’s a Traditional kimchi recipe

These are ingredients you need to make a traditional kimchi. Of course, like any other dish, there are a lot of varieties and optional ingredients. If you have already tried this traditional kimchi, be bold and choose one of the recipes below.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of sea salt preferably, or any other salt you use

  • 10 cups of water

  • 2 heads of Napa cabbage

  • 1 whole garlic of medium size

  • 2 teaspoons of fresh grated ginger

  • ¼  cup of any fish sauce you find or preferably myulchiaekjeot

  • ½ cup of Korean salted shrimp sauce

  • 1 Asian white radish

  • 1 bunch of green onions

  • ½ cup chili powder

  • 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)

  • Sesame oil (optional)

  • Sesame seeds (optional)

Korean kimchi recipe

1. Rinse and cut cabbage into quarters. Use one cup of salt to sprinkle cabbage leaves thoroughly.  In a deep bowl pour 10 cups of water and add another cup of salt. Soak every cabbage quarter into that water, practically bathe it in salted water. Put soaked cabbage in another bowl and when you finish soaking all the cabbage, pour the rest of water in the same bowl. Leave it for 6 hours to rest. Rotate the bottoms every half an hour or so.

2. In a food processor or blender mince peeled and chopped ginger, fish sauce or shrimp and peeled garlic cloves. Add chili powder and optionally sugar.

3. Wash and cut the radish. Put gloves on your hands and mix radish with that paste thoroughly and gently. Drain the cabbage and then add everything in the bowl with the cabbage. Spread the radish paste across every leaf thoroughly.

4. When you spread all the cabbage leaves, take one big leaf and wrap it around the cabbage. Put cabbages in mason jars and pour 1 cup of water. Make sure there is no air before you close the jar.

5. Leave it in the room for two days and then keep it in the fridge for at least 12 more days.

Riane Brown