Making kimchi is easier than you think...or at least I think so. maybe because I love cooking and making everything from scratch when I can. My family loves kimchi so I enjoy making a big batch and giving some away to my family and friends. I have never made whole Kimchi but usually make the already chopped Kimchi. I think it is considered the "easy" Kimchi. I have not noticed the taste difference in the two. So, I choose to make this cut Kimchi using Maangchi's Kimchi Recipe.. I did double the recipe because I have so many people to share.
You will need:
Vegetables:
10 lb Napa cabbage
10 Green onions, cut in 2 inch pieces
1/2 Cop julienned carrot
2 Cups julienned Daikon radish
2 Cups leek, chopped
1 Cup sea salt
For the Porridge:
1/4 Cup sugar
3 Cups water
1/2 Cup sweet rice flour, see picture below
Seasonings:
1 Cup fish sauce
3 Cup hot pepper flakes
1 Cup whole garlic cloves
2 TBS minced ginger
1 Cup onion, chopped
*Tip: Use a food processor.
Preparing the cabbage:
Trim the discolored outer leaves of 10 pounds of napa cabbage.
Cut the cabbage lengthwise into quarters and remove the cores. Chop it up into bite size pieces
Rinse cabbage in cold water and put the soaked cabbage into a large basin. Sprinkle salt.
Every 30 minutes, turn the cabbage over to salt evenly (total salting time will be 1½ hours).
1½ hours later, rinse the cabbage in cold water 3 times to clean it thoroughly
Drain the cabbage and set aside in a huge basin or plastic bowl..
Add the other vegetables (green onions, leek, carrot, and radish).
Making the Porridge:
Put cups of water and sweet rice flour in a pot and mix it well and bring to a boil.
Keep stirring until the porridge makes bubbles (about 5 minutes).
Add the sugar.
Stir and cook for a few more minutes until it’s translucent.
Cool it down.
Making Kimchi Sauce:
Place the cold porridge into a large bowl.
Using a food processor, puree the ginger, garlic, and onions. Add this to the porridge along with fish sauce, hot pepper flakes.
Now you have Kimchi Sauce.
Add the kimchi sauce to your bowl of prepared veggies.
Mix well by hand ( must wear gloves or your hands will burn!!!).
Now that you have your well mixed fresh Kimchi, put it in wide mouth glass jars or air tight plastic containers. (Korean stores sell different containers for kimchi storage). This is ready to eat if you choose to.
A little "Kimchi Knowledge".......for those that ask me when Kimchi will be ready to eat after making it. Eat it Right away!!
Fresh Kimchi: Just made, not fermented, not sour yet.
"Old" Kimchi: Well fermented. Sour and great for cooking such as making Kimchi stew, stir fry, pancakes, fried rice etc.
Kinchi Tips:
* make sure your hands, all you utensils and bowl, knives etc are clean.
* Wear Gloves.
* Vinegar can be used to get rid of strong smells in the jar after kimchi is all gone and you want to clean your jar for reuse.
* Keeping the jar of kimchi in the sun for several hours will speed up the fermentation process and kimchi will sour fast.
* Keep a small container full of kimchi at room temperature to get "old" kimchi for cooking and majority in the fridge for the fresh kimchi.
ENJOY!!!