Making Korean Kimchi
May 12, 2007
On a recent trip to Melbourne, we went to a fantastic Korean restaurant in Richmond. They brought out pickled appetisers such as Kimchis (korean pickled cabbage) and a range of other stuff. They were so delicious so I thought i have a crack at it today as it will take around 4 days for it to fully ferment and keeps in the fridge for 3 months. I looked on the internet for recipes and also asked this lady at a korean grocery shop on what ingredients to buy. To my suprise she actually printed out a whole recipe from her computer and told me that this is the easiest way to make it. She even mentioned that if i am sucessful wiht this first time she is happy to give me a ‘harder one’ which requires more effort.
All you need is two chinese cabbages or womboks. Take the end off and cut into bite size pieces. Wash thoroughly.
THen you put the cabbage into a clean plastic bag and add around 120 g of granulated salt. Rub the salt all over the cabbage and leave it in the plastic bag for 3- 6 hours until the cabbage is totally wilted.
In the meantime finely chop 6 cloves of garlic a thumbsize of ginger and grate around 3 medium size carrots and slice around 6 green onions.
Take the cabbage out and rinse and squeeze dry ( i just use a salad spinner). Then add all the other above ingredients. Put in a big bowl and add 5 tbsp of korean chilli and 3 tbsp of kimchi base (which basically has chilli ginger and garlic in it). Put on gloves and mix. If the color of the cabbage isn’t red enough just add more chilli powder.
Put into a plastic container and leave in a cool area for 3-4 days.
This picture below is basically what it looks like before all the ingredients are mixed with the wilted cabbage.
Below is what it looks like after it is mixed and put into a container.
Will let you all know how it is like after the product is finished. Any comments on the recipe will be great!
