Hello all!
This is my first and possibly only blog post. Hopefully it's good.
I made Kimchi today! Kimchi is a fermented vegetable dish that is a staple to Korean food. It's too expensive to buy in The Netherlands, like most foods. So, I decided to make it myself. Most kimchi is made with nappa cabbage but it can be made with a variety of vegetables.
As you can see I made mine with nappa cabbage as well, I chopped it up in about 1 1/2 chunks. I also used daikon radish, carrots and green onions for pickling. The fish sauce, chili peppers, garlic and ginger were all for the pickle seasoning (pickling sauce). I also used rice flour, sugar and water to make a paste so that the seasoning would cling to the vegetables.
First, I had one head of nappa cabbage that I chopped up, washed in cold water and then drained. After draining I salted the cabbage (about 1 cup of kosher salt) and mixed it throughout nappa and let it sit for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours so the cabbage would lose its water content.
During that time I started to make the sauce for the seasoning. I started with 1 cup of water and 1/6 cup of rice flour, mixing it on medium - low heat for 5 minutes until the mixture got thick and sticky. This is how it looked. I also added about a 1/2 table spoon of sugar to the mixture right before I took it off the heat. It's really a runny mixture until it hits about 2 minutes and starts boiling then it gets really goopey. After it became really sticky I let it cool down completely.
I also minced about 1/2 cup of garlic (1/2 head of garlic) and 1 inch of ginger into a large container. I could only find a large pot to mix everything in.
Next I combined my ginger/garlic mixture with the rice flour mixture and added 1/3 cup of fish sauce.
Next was 1 cup of Chili flakes
Mixed those until it looked like chili vomit
I then sliced the carrot and daikon that I'd add in with the cabbage into match sticks
I got a really big daikon. I think I'll make Lo Bak Go (turnip cake) with it tomorrow...
And just sliced the green onion.
Next I rinsed the cabbage. You're supposed to do it really well. The kitchen was a bit of a mess and I fear I didn't give the cabbage the attention it needed. My kimchi was too salty. SO I suggest you don't fuck around with this step. Really rinse this cabbage!
I then put everything into the pot...
Mixed it all.
And this is what I got.
