Kimchi

Kimchi (Korean: 김치), also spelled gimchi, kimchee, or kim chee, is a traditional fermented Korean dish made of vegetables with a variety of seasonings. It is Korea'snational dish, and there are hundreds of varieties made with a main vegetable ingredient such as napa cabbage, radish, scallion, or cucumber. Kimchi is also a main ingredient for many Korean dishes such as kimchi stew (김치찌개; kimchi jjigae), kimchi soup (김칫국; kimchiguk), and kimchi fried rice (김치볶음밥; kimchi bokkeumbap).

A simple way on how to make Kimchi

Ingredients

2 large Chinese Cabbages
230g rock salt
Water

Kimchi Sauce:

10 tablespoon of fish sauce
10 tablespoon of red pepper powder
1 onion
4-5 cloves of garlic
1 oriental pear
1 tablespoon of salt
1/2 tablespoon of sugar
small touch of ginger
4 spring onion

Start by Cutting the Chinese Cabbages in to chunks, and then soak in plenty of water and add about 180g of salt. Leave this to soak for about 4-5 hours. I use a tray from my freezer as you can see from the picture.

To create the sauce put all the ingredients in a blender except the spring onions, blend until quite fine, and slice the spring onions in to chunks and add to the mixture.

Return the drained cabbage pieces to the tray and add the Kimchi sauce, mix by hand until it is all mixed together, Taste and it should be reasonably salty, add up to a further 50g of salt if required.

Finally put the Kimchi in to some jars, leave in the fridge for a week, and it is ready to eat. The Kimchi will keep for at least 6-12 months probably longer.

Over time the flavour becomes more sour, if it becomes to sour to eat on its own use the Kimchi to make soups or stews as the soured Kimchi will add more flavour to these dishes. It is common in South Korea to make soups and stews with older Kimchi.

It can be eaten raw as a side-dish, or added to soups and other Korean dishes that are available on this site.