Kimchi #3

1 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 Head Chinese cabbage
Kosher salt
5 Cloves garlic; large
1 tablespoon Grated fresh ginger
5 Scallions; sliced thin at the white end; longer at the green end (include the greens in other words)
2 tablespoons Korean red pepper (you can use other red flake pepper; but it won't be the same; the kind sold in Korean groceries has a wonderful aroma)

Directions

There are about as many different ways to make kim chee as there are Korean families...but this one works well for me. I will give the basic most important ingredients, and some things you can add if you like. The amounts will be for one good size head of Chinese (Napa) cabbage and you can expand from there (since one head would last the average family about 3 days...:) Cut one head of Napa cabbage either into small pieces, or into quarters longways. Salt with kosher salt/pickling salt, and let stand overnight. If you did the longway slicing, be sure to get the salt between the leaves.

The next morning, wash it off under cold water. Make a mixture of remaining ingredients.

If you chopped the cabbage up, just mix this in with the cabbage. If you sliced it longways, then stuff it in between the leaves. This is a "fancier" way to do it, and when it is done this way, it usually includes some of the extra ingredients listed further below.

Pack the cabbage into large wide jars or into a crock. Use glass or glazed ceramic; don't use metal. Put a plate over the top to keep the cabbage submerged in the liquid that will come out of it. (This is why a crock is easier to use, though a glass jar will work too.) Put the crock in a cool place and wait a few days. The distinctive aroma will tell you the fermentation is working. Try in a few days. Some people like kim chee new, others like it more fermented and sour; when it is ready, put it in the refrigerator, and make sure your milk products are sealed. :) You don't want to seal it too tightly, because it does continue to exude some gas.

Other ingredients you can add to kim chee are: shoestring sliced carrots, daikon radish, or turnip, about a cup for a head of cabbage, a little sugar, a teaspoon or so of ground dried shrimp.

Kim chee can also be made with other greens such as turnip greens (great!), and pure cubed daikon radish. Treat it the same way as cabbage kim chee. I have usually seen this one with added sliced carrots.

bbeer@... (Bob Beer)

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