Kimchi - A simple recipe for your first time
Kimchi is spicy, fermented cabbage. A quintessential dish to Korean cuisine. We eat it with just about everything.
Servings: 4 people
- Napa cabbage - 1 head
- Kosher salt or Sea Salt - 1.5 cups Don't use regular dining salt - the salt crystals should be large
- Korean radish - 2 inch piece
- Asian Chives - 20 stalks
Kimchi Paste
- Dashima Kombu - iPhone size piece of
- Shiitake mushrooms - 4
- Glutinous rice powder - 2 Tablespoon ok to use all-purpose flour as well
- Gochugaru Korean red chili flakes - 1 cup
- Minced garlic - 2 Tablespoon
- Minced ginger - 1 Tablespoon
- Anchovy sauce - ¼ cup
- Honey - 2 Tablespoon
- Sugar - ½ Tablespoon
- Kosher Salt - 1 Tablespoon
Check Cabbage
Next day, bend the cabbage stem and check that it doesn't snap. If it does snap, let it sit for longer in the salty water.
Drain the cabbage from the brine and wash each layer thoroughly under a running faucet. After one round of washing, wash again! This second wash will help reduce the overall salty flavor from the leaves. [IMPORTANT: At this point, taste the cabbage leaf - it should taste slightly-salty, but not overly salty.]Wash it again for a third time - if it tastes too salty. Set the washed cabbage pieces on a strainer and get rid of excess water.
Make Paste
Take out a pot and fill with 2 cups of water. Place in 4 Shiitake mushrooms and dashima pieces. Put it on a medium heat and cook for 10 minutes to extract broth. Strain the broth and let it fully cool down. (Note: It is important to let the stock broth cool down completely)
When the broth is cooled down, place in the glutinous rice powder (or flour) and mix into the stock. Mix thoroughly to get rid of all clumps. (Note: Don't turn on the heat until you have fully mixed the powder into the stock). Then place the pot onto a medium heat. Keep stirring until the paste thickens up and gets a gravvy-like consistency.
Get a large plastic bowl. Put in Gochugaru, minced garlic, minced ginger, anchovy sauce, honey, salt and sugar. Then put-in the paste as well. Give all of the ingredients a good mix.
Then put-in the Korean radish and garlic chive pieces as well. Mix veggies in and coat them in the thick paste.
Layering Kimchi
Place Kimchi paste on each layer of the cabbage leaf (reference video). Repeat for all 4 cabbage pieces.
Place the finished Kimchi pieces into a large Tupperware or large mason jar.
Place plastic wrap over the container and poke some holes into it. Let it sit out in room temperature for one day.
The next day, you will see bubbles in the kimchi liquid (from the fermentation). Now place the fermenting kimchi in the refrigerator. Let it chill in the refrigerator for a few hours
Once the kimchi is cold, chop the cabbage into sections and serve! Enjoy!
- Make sure to cool down the stock soup before placing in the glutinous rice powder. Fully stir in the powder until you see no lumps - then turn on the heat.
- With each week, the Kimchi will taste more sour as it ferments longer. Kimchi is edible for many months. "Aged" Kimchi is popular in Kimchi Jjigae or Kimchi panackes.
- If you have any specific questions, leave us a comment.
- Watch video below for more details.