kimchi

Kimchi – 김치

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Appetizers & Side dishesInformationRecipesTraditional FoodVegetarian

In this post we will give a brief overview about the origins of kimchi and then provide a very easy recipe that you can try at home to prepare your own kimchi.
 

 
But what is Kimchi? Kimchi is a type of dish consisting in salted and fermented vegetables.

In ancient times, people living on the Korean peninsula mastered the fermentation process and the first written records about Kimchi date back to 12th century during the Koryo dinasty.

Early Kimchi preparation didn’t include chilli pepper since it was not available yet in the area and seasoning was done with ginger or garlic. After the introduction during the 16th century,  chilli peppers and chilli powder became the key ingredients for the Kimchi till now.

Koreans prepare many different kind of Kimchi by using different vegetables such as cabbage, radish, cucumber, green onion etc..

If you want to try to prepare kimchi yourself, follow our recipe below:

Ingredients

  • 2 Chinese cabbages
  • 1 Korean radish (or 2 Turkish radish)
  • 4 onions
  • 7 green onions
  • 250 ml fish sauce
  • 1 cup sea salt
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • 1 tbs minced ginger
  • 2 pears
  • 1 cup chilli pepper powder
  • ½  cup rice flour
  • 1 tbs pine nuts

Directions

  1. wash the cabbages and put them in a big bowl, spread half cup of salt on it and pour water till covering the cabbages. Leave it for 2 hours. This will make the cabbages softer and salty.  While cabbages are soaking, prepare the paste (see Paste section below)
  2. Take out the cabbages and put 1 cabbage in the paste bowl
  3. Spread the paste between all the leaves of the cabbage
  4. Fold the filled cabbage
  5. Repeat the process for the second cabbage
  6. You can eat fresh kimchi by cutting portions of the cabbages you just prepared or ferment them
  7. The ideal temperature is between 10 and 15 degrees, so during winter times you can store it outside in a jar or sealed tupperware for 3 days or at room temperature for 1 or 2 days. After you can store it in the refrigerator.

Paste

  1. Chop the radish, the onions and the pears in stripes
  2. Chop the green onion
  3. Mince the garlic and ginger
  4. Add the chopped and minced vegetables in a bowl
  5. Add remaining half cup of salt and add ¼ of chilli powder
  6. Pour the fish sauce (150ml) and leave everything to soak (30 min). In the meantime you can prepare the rice sauce.
  7. Add the cooled down rice sauce to the mixture and add pine nuts
  8. Taste the mixture and if not enough salted, add some fish sauce

Rice Sauce

  1. In a bowl, pour 1 cup of water and add the rice powder on a low fire.
  2. Stir slowly till it starts boiling and it becomes a bit dense
  3. Turn off the fire and cool down the rice sauce

kimchi