Monday, April 21, 2008

Anniversary Speech In Company

How to make Kimchi




Kimchi, Korea's #1 dish consists of fermented cabbage with chili and spices. It is served with everything you eat. As one of many side dishes that come with every meal or as the main ingredient in soups and many traditional dishes.

Fusion has also invaded Korea.. you can find Kimchi on Pizza, Spaghetti and most other international cuisines.
Mostly it tastes tangy and very very spicy. You either love it or hate it. I love it. But too much of it will, you know... upset your stomach.

Here's a quick way how to prepare your own Kimchi.

You'll need:

2 Chinese cabbages
5-10 spring onions
100 g Sea salt
4 heaped tablespoons (about 20 g) Korean chili powder
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoonfuls sugar
Tablespoonful kimchi sauce (if available)
5 g Small piece of ginger, crushed, or teaspoonful powdered ginger
Half an onion (optional) Not used everywhere.


Rinse the cabbages, then quarter them lengthwise, discard the stems, and then chop the cabbages laterally, which should leave you with the largest pieces measuring perhaps 5 cm on a side. Don’t get too carried away while doing this. Place the cabbage in a clean plastic bag or equivalent (with no holes) and sprinkle salt over each layer. The best kind of salt is sea salt, although non-iodized table salt will do. This will create a brine solution with the cabbage juice. Press the leaves in your hand to squeeze as much water out of them as possible. Once finished, tie up the bag and set it aside for 5-6 hours. Take the cabbage out of the salt solution and rinse it if necessary. It should be a lot softer than it was. Again, remove surplus water. Place cabbage in a sealable plastic box. Add the spring onions, chopped into small pieces. Crush the garlic and ginger in a press and mix in. If you do find Kimchi sauce add about 15 ml. If you don't, then you can do without. You can add a tablespoon of Chinese Fish sauce but this is only optional. Add the chili powder. Mix well. The colour you're looking for should be a dark red but not to dark, you wanna be able to eat the stuff.

Serve with a typical Korean dish. Bimbibap is good or shop around.

The picture above I took was from 2 old ladies who have a tiny, little restaurant on a quiet street. They are precisely making kimchi, hence the inspiration for this post I asked if I could take a picture and they said yes although two of them ran into the restaurant and out of the picture ... Sweet.

Besos

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