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Kimchi and Kaktugi

Sob sob, it’s been a month since my last blog post!  Suffice to say I’ve been pretty busy with church work especially with finding a suitable venue for the year-end Church Youth Camp.  I’ve took quite a number of food photos which had to be left in storage for a while due to the lack of time.

Anyways…

Recently, I made Kimchi from scratch!  If you still remember my previous Pork and Kimchi Stew recipe post, the Kimchi I used was store-bought which was pretty expensive at nearly RM10 for a small plastic jar.  Then, I discovered this wonderful Korean food blog at www.maangchi.com where the author Maangchi (duh, what else?) uploads cooking demonstration videos in her blog in addition to her simple-to-follow written recipes.  I highly recommend visiting her website for those interested to try out traditional Korean dishes. 

Back to the Kimchi recipe…I followed exactly how she made Kimchi (fermented Chinese cabbage) and Kaktugi (fermented radish), and was pleasantly suprised that it was quite easy to do.  However, it’s best to leave more than half a day relatively free as that’s how long it takes.  The end-result was pretty good albeit on the salty side thus I will probably adjust the salt amount and/or the salting process time (Latest update: I have adjusted the salting time which I updated below – my latest Kimchi batch tastes wonderful!)  However, the vegetable flavour was more rich and intense than store-bought and even those served in Korean restaurants here.  The Kimchi and Kaktugi looked and smelled wonderful too!

Here is the brief Kimchi and Kaktugi recipe (full version is at the aforementioned website):

Ingredients:

2 medium sized Chinese/Napa cabbages

2 Korean radishes (I used normal radish/’pak lobak’)

salt, sweet rice powder/glutinous rice flour (you can use normal rice flour or all-purpose flour), sugar, water

4-6 cups of hot pepper flakes/’gochugaru’ (I used normal chili powder)

fish sauce, white onion, garlic, fresh ginger

spring onions, Asian chives (gow choy)

Note: I made only half portion of the recipe.  In Maangchi’s recipe, she used fresh oysters which I omitted since they’re expensive and I don’t think I’ll like raw oysters in the Kimchi  

Method:

a) To prepare the vegetables:

1) For the cabbages, cut into half and slit each half through the core.  Immerse each half in cold water and sprinkle with salt.  Set aside for 1 1/2 hours.

Tip: Cabbage stems should get more salt than leafy parts. 

2) Skin radishes and cut into 1-inch cube shapes.  Put into a big bowl and sprinkle with salt.  Set the radishes aside for 1 1/2 hours too.

3) 1 1/2 hours later, turn the cabbage pieces over to salt evenly.  Do the same for the radishes.

4) Another 1 1/2 hours later, the cabbage pieces will look softer than before and have shrunked in size (Total salting process time: 3 hours)

5) Soak and rinse the salted cabbage and radish with cold water 3 times.  Squeeze out excess water from the vegetables.

b) To make Kimchi paste/porridge:

6) Mix rice powder and water in a pot.  Cook over medium high heat by stirring constantly. 

7) When you see bubbles, pour sugar into porridge and stir for another minute.  Then leave the mixture to cool down.

Place cold porridge into a big bowl.

9) Add fish sauce, hot pepper flakes (amount depending on how spicy you want the Kimchi to be), crushed garlic, minced ginger and minced onion.

Tip: Use a grinder/food processor to mince garlic, ginger and onion together.

10) Add sliced spring onions, leeks and shredded radish.

11) Mix all ingredients well and your Kimchi paste is done.

c) To spread Kimchi paste onto vegetables:

12) Spread Kimchi paste onto each cabbage leaf.  Make a good shape of the leaves by slightly pressing with both hands.

Tip: Wear rubber gloves to prevent skin irritation.

13) Pour radish cubes into the Kimchi paste and mix well with hands.

14) Put Kimchi and Kaktugi into air-tight containers or glass jars.

Ta Da!  Finito!  What do you think of my Kimchi-making?

You can have 3 varieties of Kimchi now – fresh Kimchi (eaten right after this), fermented Kimchi (put Kimchi container at room temperature for 1 to 2 days before putting into the refrigerator.  When you see some bubbles with lots of Kimchi juice, it’s fermented already.  Kimchi stew tastes delicious when fermented Kimchi is used) and Kaktugi.

 

 

Related Posts:

• Pork and Kimchi Stew

• Kimchi Fried Rice