Kimchi! Recipe by Sanegeal Farmhear

Kimchi! Recipe by Sanegeal Farmhear

One thing that I learned about me is that when I crave for something, I obsessed on the thing. It stays on my mind not until I eventually ate it or got it. I've been wanting to eat kimchi for a while. I don't prefer the ones in the supermarket that are now pricey. They are too sour and I can feel the acid burning on my throat after eating which I don't like. Additionally, there is something lacking in the taste when comparing it to the ones I buy in Teppen (too bad they already closed).

Anyway, I'll be sharing what I did without the apple. Here is the picture of the kimchi I was making in progress. Aren't they good to eat?

The finished product

Ingredients:

1 medium sized Napa cabbage

1 small carrot 

bunch of spring onions (the more the better); or chives

0.5 inch ginger (size of a pinky finger)

3 cloves garlic

1 medium red onion

Washed brown sugar

2 tablespoon Fish sauce

5-6 tablespoon gochugaru flakes (you can buy small quantities in it in the orange app if you are not sure with how it will taste)

For Paste:

2 tablespoon glutinous rice flour

350 ml hot water

2 tablespoons sugar

Instructions:

1. Wash the cabbage and pull the leaves apart. Wash each leaves thoroughly under clean running water. Let them dry for a while and slice them into bite size pieces. I personally like Napa cabbages that are more on stems than leaves because leaves tend to wilt and absorb the sauce.

2. Using a 2-3 pinch of sea salt, cover each piece evenly and put it in a clean container. Let it sit for an hour or more. You will see that it will extract a liquid. Mix and check from time to time if the stems are bendable and stems do not snap.

3. Wash the pieces in a filtered water thrice. Squeeze the water and let it dry for a while.

4. Prepare the paste by adding 2 tablespoons of glutinous flour and 2 tablespoons sugar in a pot. Set the temperature into low to medium and slowly introduce the hot water. Mix evenly until you can't see the white clumps. Set aside to let it cool.

5. Prepare the add on vegetables

    5.1 Cut the edges of the Spring onions and wash them thoroughly in running water. Let it dry with a paper towel.

    5.2 Wash the carrot and cut into strips or sliced it whichever you prefer. Set aside.

6. Prepare the sauce

    6.1 Using a food processor or blender, add the ginger, garlic, onion, 2 tablespoons fish sauce and 2 tablespoons sugar. Blend until smooth. 

7.  In a clean (if possible, sanitized) bowl, add the rice paste, sauce and gochugaru flakes. Mix them evenly. Check the taste and adjust fish sauce and sugar until desired taste is achieved.

8. Add the carrots in the bowl and cut the spring onions into 1 inch size using kitchen scissors into the bowl. Mix evenly. Taste test again.

9. Evenly coat the bite size pieces of Napa cabbage with the paste. Put in a sanitized container and let it sit for more than an hour to 24 hours depending on how you want it to be fermented. Pressed it down with a fork to remove the bubbles. Make sure the cabbage stays submerged in the sauce. Refrigerate. Enjoy!

I realized that I could do this frequently whenever I want kimchi since this is more manageable than making kimchi with a kilogram of Napa cabbage.