Kimchi

Kimchi is indispensable on Korean table. Kimch is an accompaniment, or side dish. Some people dislike Kimchi because of its pungent taste and the strong smell. However some are addicted to it. You can buy it in most of Asian grocery shops. Be careful, there are some copycats.

I like Kimchi when it is fresh and crunchy more than when it is mature and sour. I tried so many times to reduce the amount of salt and chilli pepper. So you may find it is not like the Kimchi you used to, meaning Kimchi from the shop or Kimchi from the south of Korea.
 

Kimchi

1kg Chinese cabbage, 100g white radish, one clove of garlic, one stalk of green onion, (or chives)
5 g ginger

Seasoning: 80g coarse sea salt*, 2 Tbsp red pepper powder, 1/2 Tbsp fish (or shrimp) sauce

  
Preparation for the cabbage:
1. Cut the cabbage into two or four vertically depends on the size.

2. Sprinkle the half the salt between the leaves of the cabbage.
3. Dissolve the other half salt in 1 L water and pour the water over the salted cabbage.
4. Leave the cabbage for 4~6 hours**.
5. Rinse the cabbage and drain well for an hour.

Stuffing:

1. Cut the radish in Julienne
2. Cut the green onion or the chive in 3 cm long.
3. Chop the half of garlic and ginger finely. Slice the other half of the garlic and the ginger.
4. Grate the pear.
5. Bring the other half radish in a big bowl. Sprinkle the red pepper powder and let the radish get the red color.
6. Add the fish (shrimp) sauce.
7. Add the chopped garlic, the chopped ginger and the green onion. Mix well.
8. Stuff the radish mix in every one or two layers of the cabbage.
9. Put the stuffed cabbage tightly into a container, rinse the used bowl for stuffing with 200ml of water and pour on the top of the cabbage.

Fermentation:

Put the container of Kimchi in a room temperature (20 degree Celsius) for two days then keep in the refrigerator.

 

Tips
If you don’t like to cut the radish in julienne, you can cut the radish in a pieces and salt like cabbage. Put them together with cabbage. (Above photo)

Remarks
*The ratio of salt is measured with grey sea salt of Guérande and fleur de sel. The saltiness may vary depend on the salt. However I strongly recommend NOT using table salt. ** If the cabbage is in more than two layers, you have to change the layers to get even dose of saltiness.