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Kimchi

I didn't see a specific thread in here about the delicious dish that is kimchi, so I figured I would start one. I'm sure that there are some members on this forum with some really special recipes that they might want to share.

I made some kimchi tonight, since I got gifted a small batch wine kit from a friend for Christmas, and I now have a great new fermentation vessel.

Use 2 head of napa cabbage, korean raddishes, carrots, green onions, garlic, fish sauce, hot red pepper powder, carolina reaper powder, ginger powder, brown sugar, and rice flour.

Cut and salt the cabbage dry, and flip it every 30 minutes, soaking the cabbage in the saltwater that begins to accumulate at the bottom of the bowl. Do that for 2 hours, then rinse it 6 times with water to remove all of the salt.

Boil 2 tablespoons of rice flour with 2.5 cups of water, and 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, until it becomes thick.

Dice up the carrots, green onions, and raddishes, then added them to a mixing bowl with 2.5 cups of red chile powder, and 2 tablespoons of Carolina Reaper powder.

Once cooled, put the rice flour sugar into a bkender with 4 cloves of garlic, and a tablespoon of ginger powder. Liquify it. Add that to the mixing bowl with the veggies and chile powder, and add 3/4 cup of fish sauce. Mix very thoroughly with your hands, and wear gloves!

Add the cabbage to the mix, and work it with your hands til everything is covered 100% with the sauce.

Put everything in jars/jugs with airlocks, and let ferment for 5 days in a dark place of the house. Put it in the fridge when it tastes to your liking, and eat it!
 

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As long as it has soured i like it as a side dish. Kinda depends on the mix though. In really fresh kimchi the ginger can be overpowering but you can always use less ginger. It tones down a great deal as it ferments. A Chinese friend runs a small restaurant and he makes kimchi. They seem to prefer it more fresh and with a tad more ginger than i like, His Chinese style pickled cabbage though is to die for. Sweet, sour and just a tiny bit spicy.
 
Its basically just salted cabbage/carrots with a sweet pickle brine, ginger and a couple dried whole chilis. Very easy to make and the ginger goes great in the sweet rice vinegar brine.
 
Maangchi has her moments but i find some of her recipes to be too salty. I even have her cook book. I also look at CrazyKoreancooking and Koreanbapsang websites. A lot of my Korean cooking is sorta of a mix of those three. Mykoreankitchen and Beyondkimchi websites are also worth reading.
 
Im going to bite the bullet and splurge within a few days. One of my Korean markets has Korean grown pepper flakes and Korean sun dried sea salt. Ive been dying to try them for ferments. The salt comes from Imja island. The lady at the market swears it makes better kimchi. :D
 
I follow maangchi vids as well....still need to get the pepper powder for the next run.

I picked up a box of squid to give that a try in the next batch as well.

How ever you make it...it sure is delicious.
I googled what pepper to use if the goru powder was not available....Aleppo was recommended....of course I added a few seeds to the germination dome to give it a try.
 
Kitazawa seed company has heirloom gochu seeds. I plan on trying these. http://www.kitazawaseed.com/seed_525-104.html
 
Amazon and Ebay have a fair selection of Korean coarse pepper powder but only a few from Korea. Most are from China and packaged in Korea. The Korean grown are over $30 for 2.2lbs plus shipping.
 
I think my market had this one in 1lb bags for about $16. http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-2lbs-ORGANIC-Korean-Red-Pepper-Flakes-Red-Chili-Gochugaru-Gochujamjari-/332066887712?_trksid=p2141725.m3641.l6368
 
I just made up two half gallons a few days ago.....Still didn't have the powder but stopped in the mex store and bought Japones.
 
Google search says they are  Japanese peppers and the scoville is hotter than Gochu.
 
Other than that followed the recipe making the paste etc etc....after 24hrs the fermentation was kicking that for sure.
 
Waiting 2 weeks before sampling.
 
Thegreenchilemonster said:
I got a batch of dried gochu from Stickman last year. I would have a hard time touching commercial dried Korean flakes again for kimchi. The flavor difference is very noticeable.
 
Im going to grow some of my own this year but i dont see how i can grow enough to make enough powder for my kimchi habit. Plus i use it all the time for stews.soups and just about any time i want to add a little heat to something. The cheap flakes i get for around $8/kg and they taste great. I just dont like the amount of salt in them. I picked up another 435 gram bag without salt but they were from China. I think i paid $4.35 for it.
 
https://www.jayone.com/WEB/?mid=grain_powder&product_srl=25511
 
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I started a new batch of radish and kohlrabi kimchi with some of the tops added too. Its mostly Maangchi's recipe with the addition of Asian pear puree. Its almost done weeping and ready for the fermenter. I normally don't add the pear to my ferments but since radish kimchi usually includes some sugar i thought it might be nice to give it a try. If its too sweet i will just let it ferment out in the fridge.
 
Thegreenchilemonster said:
I got a batch of dried gochu from Stickman last year. I would have a hard time touching commercial dried Korean flakes again for kimchi. The flavor difference is very noticeable.
 
+1 on the flavor difference! Some of it is that other varieties have been substituted for the Gochus by the Chinese merchants and some is that it's oven-dried instead of sun-dried. Gochus are pretty prolific, but it takes at least 20 plants a whole growing season to make enough pods for a kilo of powder.
 
stickman said:
 
+1 on the flavor difference! Some of it is that other varieties have been substituted for the Gochus by the Chinese merchants and some is that it's oven-dried instead of sun-dried. Gochus are pretty prolific, but it takes at least 20 plants a whole growing season to make enough pods for a kilo of powder.
In that case, it seems like our trade might have been a bit uneven, since I traded you a FRB of fresh pods, for an equal amount of dried Gochu. I owe you at least another MFRB this upcoming season to compensate! I plan on brewing a Kimchi Gose in a few months with your gochu pods, I'm just ironing out the recipe right now. Thanks again for the trade, my kimchi has never tasted better.
 
I added a Tbs of the "hot" produced in Korea pepper flakes (i posted earlier) then added my paste with Asian pear puree. To be honest i didnt think they were that much hotter than what i normally buy. Not much sweeteness to the pear but the flavor of the kkaktugi fresh was amazingly good. I topped off the jar with some of the liquid from the weeping just to make sure it was submerged and for a little extra salt.
 
The ferment begins.
Kkaktugi_zpssefdsiwo.jpg

 
 
Wow, fermentation is kicking in fast. I did use a couple tbs of juice from a previous batch but i think it really likes the Asian pear puree. I can see tons of trapped air pockets throughout the jar that were not there yesterday. I had mixed the "starter" with the puree and paste yesterday while the radish and kohlrabi were weeping. I have enough leftover to try with some Taiwanese cabbage. Looks like i need to run to the market for more carrot and radish soon. :D
 
I think the pear is just the ticket for a kimchi flavored hot sauce too.
 
Red cabbage works. Ive made it a few times. IMO is takes longer to ferment and it will alter the color as it ferments. Taste just fine though once its good and sour. It has a slightly off taste fresh.
 
It's been a while since using purple cabbage.  I remember it fading in color and turning kind of a grey color.  Like SMDS said, it tasted fine, just not as good of color.
 
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