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Kimchi!

Since I finally posted this on Reddit, figured you guys might like it too. ;)
 
Note that I'm shredding the cabbage first. If you prefer not to do that, check here for the technique and adjust appropriately.
 
This is for 1/4 head of cabbage, but there's a significant volume of veggies, so it ends up making quite a bit of kimchi. Also, there's a lot of ranges here; this recipe was provided to me as "yeah, this much" and "put enough of that in." So it's all open to interpretation, but at this point I've made it enough times that anything in any of the ranges below should come out well.
 
Daikon
1 6" chunk of daikon (~800g)
 
Slice half of this thinly into 1" square-ish pieces. Julienne the other half.
 
Note: If you have an entire daikon that's only 6" long, that's probably not enough. Get two. We use about 6" of a daikon that's likely to measure at least a foot and a half.
 
Cabbage
1/4 head Napa cabbage (~900g)
1/4 C pickling salt
 
Tear this roughly by hand into 2"-3" pieces.
 
Sauce
1 med carrot, julienne
1 bn nira (garlic chives), chopped 1" long
1 bn scallions, chopped 1" long
1/4 - 1/3 C fish sauce
1/4 - 1/3 C shrimp sauce
2 T finely chopped ginger
4 T finely chopped garlic
1/2 - 1 C Korean ground red pepper
1 med onion, blended
2 T erythritol or sugar (optional)
1-2 T plum extract (optional)
 
Slurry
2-3 T glutinous rice flour
Water
 
Method
  • Using your hands, gently but thoroughly fold salt into cabbage. Let rest for 45 minutes.
  • Add squared daikon and combine. Let rest another 45 minutes.
  • Thoroughly rinse cabbage and daikon and rest in a strainer.
  • Combine rice flour with enough water to dissolve; simmer down into a very thick paste. Let cool.
  • Mix flour paste with all sauce ingredients, including julienned daikon.
  • Combine all ingredients. Pack loosely into jars.
  • Let rest on counter for several days up to two weeks, tasting occasionally. Refrigerate when it's almost as sour as you prefer it.
This keeps indefinitely, though that doesn't matter, since it won't last. This recipe, however, is not great for people who like fresh kimchi; you need to rinse the cabbage thoroughly, and it will still taste pretty salty until it's had a few days to mellow.
 
If that's a problem for you, instead of this method, use a salt brine to cure the cabbage initially. Mix in enough salt so you can clearly taste it in the brine but not so much that it's hard to stomach; that's not a great measurement, but that's how it's done, at least in my family. Everything else stays the same, but with only a very brief rinse when straining the kimchi.
 
I don't have a picture of this by itself, but you can see it among friends here, in my kimchi fridge. It's in the green-lidded jars on the top shelf, though that's far less than half the batch.
 
inside-kimchi-fridge.jpg
 
Thats gunna taste pretty salty with that much fish sauce and fermented shrimp added. Thats not too bad for a bachan with rice but for kimchi stew it may be a bit much. Sorta depends on the gochugaru you get also. Some are pretty high in sodium already. The one i normally get taste great (Assi brand) but i need to use less fish sauce compared to Maangchi's recipe or its a salt bomb.
 
BTW add Asian pear for your sugar source sometime. Its awesome especially with radish kimchi but lately ive started using it in cabbage kimchi too. I puree it with onion, garlic and some water. Then add that to the "paste" after its cooled. Maybe a 1/3 to 1/2 of a pear for 900gram of cabbage.
 
ShowMeDaSauce said:
Thats gunna taste pretty salty with that much fish sauce and fermented shrimp added.
Well, no, not really. Like I said, it does start off that way, but quickly mellows.
 
My wife is pretty sensitive to sodium, and the only time we've had a problem with this is when I wasn't careful enough with the initial salting. She uses it for soup, frying with pork, eating with fried tofu, pretty much everything... my own sodium tolerance dropped pretty significantly after I moved here and started using salt less in my cooking.
 
ShowMeDaSauce said:
BTW add Asian pear for your sugar source sometime. Its awesome especially with radish kimchi but lately ive started using it in cabbage kimchi too. I puree it with onion, garlic and some water. Then add that to the "paste" after its cooled. Maybe a 1/3 to 1/2 of a pear for 900gram of cabbage.
 
Yeah! Pear does work really well with this.
 
I have made kimchi the past couple of years with good results. I grow my own Korean peppers and this past year grew Daikon radish. I saved a couple of radish plants, which are flowering, so I can save my own seeds. I do not use fish sauce because my wife would not like it, but what I make is pretty popular.
 
Masher said:
Looks great, I just planted 6 starts of cabbage to make a batch from the garden.

Nice cut job on the julienned veggies.
 
Nice! I'd love to grow more veggies, but they don't really get priority with my limited room.
 
Thanks, but I'll have to pass the compliment on to my wife. I can take care of the prep well enough, but she gets annoyed at how slow I am, so she took over that part. 
lol.gif

 
kentishman said:
I have made kimchi the past couple of years with good results. I grow my own Korean peppers and this past year grew Daikon radish. I saved a couple of radish plants, which are flowering, so I can save my own seeds. I do not use fish sauce because my wife would not like it, but what I make is pretty popular.
 
Ooh, well done. I started Korean peppers recently as well; they're getting a spot outside.
 
Have you considered making half a batch with fish sauce, just to try it? Maybe half fish sauce? It's a pretty massive difference; might be worth a shot.
 
Just finished a batch of fried pork and kimchi with the latest batch. It ain't bad. :)
 
buta-kimchi.jpg
 
podz said:
Dude, you have a dedicated kimchi fridge? :-)
Sure do. Kimchi is serious business. :D

It's not even just a fridge that's earmarked for kimchi; it's its own design. They cool the interior walls instead of circulating cooled air.
 
A mini fridge uses just a coil with no fan. At least mine does. Kimchi is some serious business in Korea. They have been making dedicated fridges for years. They get rather pricey even for small ones.
 
The idea behind a kimchi fridge is also to keep it colder so fermentation is slowed more. I dont have a problem with super sour kimchi. Even batches i left alone for over 6 months were great. Aint no way im paying $800 bucks for a 3 cubic foot mini fridge.
 
ShowMeDaSauce said:
A mini fridge uses just a coil with no fan. At least mine does. Kimchi is some serious business in Korea. They have been making dedicated fridges for years. They get rather pricey even for small ones.
 
The idea behind a kimchi fridge is also to keep it colder so fermentation is slowed more. I dont have a problem with super sour kimchi. Even batches i left alone for over 6 months were great. Aint no way im paying $800 bucks for a 3 cubic foot mini fridge.
 
Yeah, I'm also a big fan of more sour kimchi. My wife, though, prefers it more mild... and she eats the vast majority of what I make, so she pretty much gets to keep it the way she wants it. Which is fine with me.
 
The price certainly varies based on what you want and where you are. It used to be that even from Japan you couldn't order them domestically. Now you can, though, and the price isn't that bad. We paid about $200 for ours. It's still a Korean brand, and it's updated for the domestic market (the display is in Japanese).
 
Some of the ones her relatives in Korea have are over the top. I swear her aunt has the Red Hulk sitting in a spare room; it's comically huge and painfully bright red. But then Korean fashion is also... strange... to me.
 
Best price i can find here is around $800 for a Daewoo/Kasse 3.6cuft. All the LGs are well over a grand. Some are well over 2 grand. Its the shipping that is the price killer. Kind of a joke since my mini fridge was only about $180 for a similar size. Even my mini chest freezer was only about $200.
 
I would buy one that is large enough to hold at least 2-4 of my E-Jen fermenters if i could get it for under $200. Ive always made it the same way though. Ferment in the kitchen for a few days then toss the fermenter in the fridge for at least a month. Turns out just fine every time.
 
ShowMeDaSauce said:
Even my mini chest freezer was only about $200.
 
I'd assumed these would be expensive here (like most appliances), but it turns out I can get one around that price point. Probably a bit smaller, but then my house is not exactly Murka-sized... this might be a good idea considering our freezer is usually packed with sausage and turkey legs that I don't really have a choice but to order in bulk.
 
My birthday is tomorrow and all my wife has bought me so far is popcorn and pretzels. Not that those aren't two of my favorite things, but it's leverage. :D
 
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