Kimchi

[Beermonger]

So Eoin asked me to post my kimchi recipe.  This recipe has been modified a bit, but originally comes from Lauryn Chun's "kimchi cookbook"

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kimchi-Cookbook-Traditional-Modern-Ways/dp/1607743353/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441410407&sr=8-1&keywords=the+kimchi+cookbook

It has lots of other Korean pickles (westernized just enough for you to be able to get the ingredients) and is well worth taking a look at.

This recipe has come out really, really well every time I've made it.

The amount of cabbage is converted from a round number of pounds (4-6 lb) in the original recipe, but I usually buy two fair-sized cabbages and it typically falls into the range. And it's always fit into a two litre Kilner jar.

The measurements, being converted from a US source, are mostly volumetric, but apart from the salt and the cabbage, nothing much will happen if you overdo or underdo something. It's fairly robust, and there's more variation in the fermentation anyway.

Ingredients:
1.8–2.8 kg Napa (Chinese) cabbage, cut into squares
72 g salt
0.5 cup / 120 ml  Thinly sliced onion (worked out about 60 g, one small onion, for me)
4 tsp / 20 ml  Garlic, minced
2 tsp / 10 ml  Ginger, peeled and grated
2 tbsp / 30 ml  Jeotgal (a kind of anchovy sauce: see below)
2 tbsp / 30 ml  Saeujot (a kind of salted shrimp: see below)
2 tsp / 10 ml  Sugar
0.5 cup / 120 ml  Gochugaru (Korean chili flakes: see below)
4 Scallions, green parts only, in 5 cm lengths
0.25 / 60 ml  Water

I'll describe three of the harder to get ingredients in a bit. First the method:

Combine the chopped cabbage with the salt in a bowl, mixing thoroughly (with your hands works best). Leave 1 hour.
Then rinse the cabbage and let drain in a colander for 20 mins.

Preparing the paste: Combine the onion, garlic, ginger, anchovy sauce, salted shrimp, and the sugar and blend them to paste (I use a bullet blender - it takes a few second. Add a bit of water if it's too stiff and won't flow into the blades).

Add the chili powder to the paste and leave for 15 mins.

Combine the cabbage with the scallions and the paste. Mix thoroughly using your hands. Best to use disposable plastic gloves (or a freezer bag over your hand)! This stuff will stain whatever you use  bright red. I've never dared to use my bare hands.

Pack into the Kilner jar. Swish the 60 ml of water around the mixing bowl and add it to the jar. Close it and leave it somewhere at room temperature.

As it ferments, it will start releasing gas. The jar should just belch this out. The active, smelly phase only lasts 2 or so days, but you might want to put it somewhere out of the way. And put something under it (I use one of the plastic trays that comes with tofu) as it will often dribble, too.

3-5 days is usually enough to finish the main ferment. Then refrigerate it. Given the size of the 2 litre jar, I find it easier at this stage to repack it into 500 ml Kilner jars. If you're around Dublin, you can get all the jars at Ikea for next to nothing (€1–€2.50, I think).

The kimchi changes as it ages. At the start it's firmer and less integrated in taste, and as it gets older you get this wonderful umami quality. It's great stuff.

The ultimate Kimchi junk food: two slices of bread with cheddar and kimchi inside. Butter the outside. Fry. Eat. Lie down.

[Eoin]

Thanks for that. I have a Korean shop here in Dublin where I bought my bibimbap bowls and stainless chopsticks, I'm sure they'll have the necessary ingredients.

[Beermonger]

So here are the three unusual ingredients:

1. Jeotgal. This is a kind of fermented fish sauce. I went to the Korean shop on Great Strand Street in Dublin, told the guy I was making kimchi and showed where I'd copied out 젓갈 "jeotgal" and (after much excitement) he gave me the bottle shown in the first photo. The import sticker calls it anchovy sauce.

2. Saeujeot or salted shrimp. You can see this in the second photo. This is the only brand I've seen, so the photo should be enough to identify it. I originally got it that place on Strand Street, but I also saw it yesterday in the Asia Market on Drury Street. Two identification notes: the name is written as 새우젓 (as you can see in red on the jar in the photo) and don't be looking for large shrimps: there's thousands of the poor bastards in the jar, all looking out with sad little black eyes.

3. Gochugaru chili powder. If you replace this with other chili powder, be careful: gochugaru is not too hot. Again, I got this in the place on Strand Street. It was about €8 for a kilo and its name is spelled 고추가루. It's useful for all sorts of other things, too. For one, it makes an awesome chili oil just on its own.


The last photo is the finished product!

[Beermonger]

Probably the same place! Yeah, give it a try. They might try to fob you off with a jar of "kimchi sauce" (looks like tomato ketchup), but I reckon you can't beat using the real ingredients.

[Eoin]

It's a Han Chinese and Korean shop, beside the Italian quarter,in the city centre. Is that strand Street?

[Beermonger]

That's it! Couldn't remember what it was called: Han Sung. Don't think it's the same 'Han' as in 汉 'Han Chinese', mind you . As far as I know, 'Han' in Korean refers to Korea.

[Eoin]

I think it said so on the signage.... But you might be right.

[Beermonger]

It's a great shop. They have a website and you can see the types of fresh kimchi they make:

http://www.hansungfoods.com/products/Kimchi---Side-Dish/AD000000/

(I guess they must deliver, but I've never tried to order through the site).

The perilla leaf (which they call "sesame leaves" on the site) kimchi is amazing. They make the regular cabbage kimchi there, but I've stopped buying it since I started making the recipe above: it's very similar and just as good!

And if that wasn't enough, they have a really great Korean canteen down the back! Tasty food and good value for money.

[Eoin]

I'm addicted to bibimbap.... Had to buy the bowls and everything to get it right. Recently I've been having issues with raw eggs though so I'm not sure how it'll pan out long term...

[Beermonger]

Oh, I just looked up bibimbap. I'd thought it was a beef-centric dish (and consequently ignored it due to hemidemisemivegetarianism). I see that's not true. Must have a go at it!

Not too fond of raw eggs myself. Part of it is the yuck factor, which I find I can minimize if I have eggs from a good source (my parents get some from a small farm, free range and very fresh and tasty).

Ah, the kimchi lives! You can see in this photo that it's exuded enough liquid to float and reach the top of the jar (filling the headspace you can see in the earlier photo). Bubbles are trickling up through it. It's beautiful, like a lava lamp made of cabbage ...

[Eoin]

Bibimbap can be made of everything, beef bulgogi is not essential in it, but nice.

[Eoin]

Beermonger, you're throwing about a lot of Korean there, do you speak and read it, Or are you just doing a copy and paste job?

I've started to learn a little Japanese recently is why I ask...but I'm still only a very raw beginner.

[ronniedeb]

Recipe looks good. Thanks. I've used this other recipe in the past, but found it has too much pepper flakes for my taste (and I like it hot):
http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/napa-cabbage-kimchi

Yours seems like a more reasonable amount of hot pepper. I grew some Korean Gochu peppers this year. Might throw some fresh peppers in as well. 

[Beermonger]

Eoin, I'm a bit obsessed about languages, but I haven't got to Korean yet. I dimly recall some Chinese, though, hence the comment on 'han'.

So I used the little that I know of the Korean writing system to verify that the words I was copying were the right words. I used this approach when buy the ingredients (handwriting the Korean words out on paper), and it helped no end in identifying what I was looking for.

Ronniedeb, it's hot but not mindblowing. I guess both my recipe and maangchi's depend on what you take 'hot pepper' flakes to mean. If you tried this with a truly hot ground pepper, it would be inedible. The gochugaru is ideal, if you can get it: tasty and not too hot to used in these quantites.

By the way, the recipe I use suggests that the kimchi wil be ready in 2-3 days. Mine was put together 4 days ago and it still hasn't finished. It's very actively fermenting (loads of moving bubbles). I think I usually leave it a week before repacking, but once the active fermentation dies down, you're ok.

The fermentation is quite amazing when you're used to pitching yeast in beer. I think the salt and chili selectively favour certain organisms already present on the cabbge and let them take over and do their thing. It looks very cool.

[Eoin]

I'm a fan of languages myself, as said Japanese is the one I'm looking at right now, although that fascination is coming from their amazing food....

I just have to get the 100 euros necessary to buy the Rosetta Stone app, because using the trial app has impressed me no end and allowed me to learn some Japanese at an amazingly fast rate.