05 December 2011

Homemade Kimchi


Kimchi is a traditional fermented Korean banchan (side dish) made of vegetables with varied seasonings. Usually I get my kimchi from a well known Korean stall at Bukit Timah Plaza.  They homemade the kimchi, it is very nice but is expensive compared to the one selling in the supermarket. It didn't cross my mind to make kimchi until four weeks ago I saw Lena from Frozen Wings made kimchi using cincalok, it was really a good way of clearing my nearly expire fermented shrimp paste (cincalok) since I'm a kimchi lover. I can eat kimchi with plain rice :) I got my gochujang paste from the Korean mini mart near my place and swing into action on 22 Nov and fermented it for 6 days.

I think the cabbage I used was a little small, and too much cooked rice added, it turned out that I have lot of paste at the end of fermentation. I added the paste to cook my noodle and the kimchi soup turned out so delicious! The cabbage tastes crunchy after 6 days of ferment. Thanks to Lena for sharing this recipe!




Recipe adapted from Frozen Wings, original from Elinluv's Tidbits Corner 
Napa Cabbage (700gm, quartered with stem attached, soak in brine)
6 heaped tbsp gochujang paste
1/2 bowl cooked rice (my 1/2 bowl is far too much than Lena's)
1 onion, chopped
1 radish (omitted)
50gm spring onions, cut into lengths
50gm chilli flakes/chilli powder (omitted)
10gm sugar (used 25g)
50gm minced garlic
4 tbsps fermented shrimp paste (cincalok)(used the whole small bottle)
50ml fish sauce


Steps:
1.Soak the cabbage in soak salt water about 4 hours, weighing the cabbages with with a heavy plate during the soaking process. Remove cabbages from salt water and drain well.

2.Pound the garlic and rice till fine. (I didn't pound, but try to mash them with a masher) Transfer them to a medium size bowl and add in fermented shrimp paste, fish sauce, gichujang paste and chilli powder and mix well. Add in the cut green onions and the rest of the ingredients , mix well and leave to rest for about 1/2 hour.

3. Stuff the cabbage with the mixture, apply them starting from the innermost leaves and making sure every part of leave is covered. Repeat until the entire cabbage is covered well with the mixture as well as possible.

4. Put the kimchi in an airtight container and let it ferment at room temperature for half a day. After than, transfer the container to the fridge (temperature below 20C) and allow to ferment for about 6 days.

*Note: without adding the chilli powder the kimchi still taste spicy because there is chilli in gichujang paste and cincalok.


9 comments:

  1. Yo! Tze, kimchi u also know how to make hurr... Great ne! Last 2 weeks I bought ready made Kimchi at Isetan and plan to cook Pork wf Kimchi!!! Hohoho...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tze, wah,new challenge leh...kimchi also know how to make. 厉害!

    ReplyDelete
  3. glad to know you made this and i also have to thank elin for sharing this way of making kimchi. Now you know how to mkae kimchi, you can always make some and give to your friends. I also cook that with my noodles, yum! Thanks for the link back.

    ReplyDelete
  4. i also bookmarked this recipe, have yet to make it..Look at your Kimchi, i must do this soonest possible.

    ReplyDelete
  5. 这食谱有用到cincalok,好特别。
    我很喜欢kimchi却不曾自制,
    打开我家冰箱一定有它的踪影。

    ReplyDelete
  6. 连泡菜也会做?我要写个大大的“佩服”给你。。(写完后快快把食谱抄下来。。呵呵)

    ReplyDelete
  7. 你好厉害哦,我要把这个学起来:)

    ReplyDelete
  8. 厉害厉害!never thought of making my own kimchi...(有看到我的拇指吗?)

    ReplyDelete
  9. It looks very delicious :-)
    We Koreans use sweet rice paste instead cooked rice, so when you finish making Kimchi, you can't see the pieces of rice. Most of Korean family use this way.
    How to making sweet rice paste:
    You buy sweet rice powder package from any asian market, Whisk together 1/2 c. sweet rice flour (also called glutinous rice flour, available at Asian markets) with 1 c. water. Whisk continually over high heat until it just begins to thicken, then remove it from the heat, whisk until smooth, and allow to cool.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your lovely comment!
Please be nice and no SPAM here!