Kimchi or Kimchee, mastering the art of Kimchee vol 2

Welcome back to my Kimchi (Kimchee) school. We are entering the second session of Kimchee making. If you miss the first session, click here.

In a previous post I have explained how to soak the cabbage in the salt water solution, which is the most important part of Kimchee making. If you master that process you can graduate Kimchee school with an honor degree, the Kimchee Cum Laude.

Today I will show you how to make the cabbage stuffing.
We call the stuffing, Kimchee Soh (김치소).

They are the sidekicks of the show, which makes the look and the taste. They are the ones who makes the important final touch. Just like the impressive supporting actors or actresses who adds the real kick in the movies, this Soh makes the Kimchee to another level.

FACT : Did you know that Kimchee(Kimchi) was originally white, not red? Koreans have been making Kimchee for over 1000 years but never been spicy, which means no chilies had been used. Chilies simply did not exist in Korea. The introduction of chili pepper in the 1800's via Japan, which was from Portugal, of whom they got it from South America, changed the look of Kimchee. Japanese didn't care much of chili when it was introduced by Portuguese but Koreans were the one who went nuts over.  We love CHILI! Thanks to South America. In fact if you look into the history of some food, you will be amazed how many are originated from S. America. Columbus did not only contributed the course of world history but he also influence the cuisines of the world. I wonder what Europeans ate before the arrival of potatoes, because every restaurant I went in Europe served fries as a side.

Ooops! my lectures has detoured to somewhat different course. Sorry! Let's come back to our original point and begin the class. Kimchee! here we come...

 

Chapter II : the Sidekicks

The supporting crews of the show.

Anchovy sauce, sesame seeds, chili flakes, sweet rice powder, sugar, shrimp sauce(salted shrimp), Korean radish, green onion, ginger, garlic, onion.

Now,

 Before I tell you how to prepare the sidekicks of the show, 

I need to show you my hidden jewels of Kimchee recipe.

The sea quartets!

Pollock fish, shrimps, anchovies, sea kelp, all in dried form.

You can be creative and use your own choice.

 If you have access to fresh fish head (such as cod or yellow croaker),

it will make gorgeous flavor to Kimchee. Weird?

Adding these sea flavor to Kimchee is one discovery that you won't regret to adapt.

Trust me on this.

 Put them all in a pot and add about 3 cups of water.

 Boil and simmer for 10 minutes, covered. Let it rest for 20 minutes.

You need to make this stock real intensified.

Gorgeous!  Strain the stock and reserve 2 cups.

You wan to separate this into 1 1/2 C to make rice glue + 1/2C for another use.

 Pour 1 1/2cups of reserved stock into the sauce pan and add 2 Tbsp sweet rice flour.

Mix and boil to thicken whisking constantly, about 3-5 minutes. Let it cool

 You are making the rice glue. This will make the filling to be spreadable consistency and help bond to the cabbage better. 

Do not try to taste this. It is disgusting now but will raise your Kimchee to a whole different level.

Now, let's move on.

Make your knife to be proud.

Korean radish!
Peel off her cloth. She performs better in nude.

 Slice her into 1/8" thick.

It is okay if you made a few slices thicker or thinner. Nobody is perfect in this world.

 Cut them into 1/8" sticks, just like that.

Why, oh, why on earth am I so good at slicing?

 Cut the white part of green onion in half lengthwise and slice them into 1 1/2" long.

 In a big bowl place 4 cups of chili flakes and pour the rice glue.

Add the anchovy sauce,

 add these alien looking shrimp sauce, aka salted shrimp.

No need to chop them. They will eventually melt in the process. Aren't you glad?

Mix together. It will be like thick paste.

 As you know, this is a garlic. They hold on each other like the United Nation.

 How many lives can you get out of one head of garlic?

 You count and let me know.
You will need about 10 cloves out of this pile.

This is ginger. She flew all the way from Brazil to help me out.

Ola, Como Vai, Ginger?

Cut 2" long slice off from her and peel her with spoon. Roughly chop her.

In a blender put diced onion, garlic, ginger and the reserved 1/2 cup of stock.

Puree their lives until smooth.

Mix in to the paste.

 

 Add sugar and sesame seeds, mix.

 Take a little piece of cabbage and put some paste, EAT! 

You need to test if the paste is rightly seasoned. 

Depends on how much sodium level in your cabbage,
you might need to add more fish sauce or salt in this stuffing.
It should be slightly saltier than you would usually taste from other food.

Remember the radish and green onions?

Mix them into the paste. You need to let this filling sit for 30minutes so that the radish will extract their moisture and get wilted. They are too stiff to use right away.

Now the Kimchee filling is created and well rested.
If you want to be more exotic at this point, you can add fresh shrimp, or fish to the filling.
(When I mean "fresh" it means alive, not dead. They have to stare at you and crawl in front of your eyes. I couldn't find the live crawling shrimps nor jumping fishes at any grocery stores so I skip them)

Adding fresh sea creature might sound so bizarre to you, but that puts your Kimchee to rise above all.
Many Korean home cooks add that to the winter cabbage Kimchee and everyone loves it.
My mother always put fresh, clean cod pieces in the cabbage during winter time and I remember how good her Kimchee tasted.

Some add raw oyster instead and it makes Kimchee very refreshing, that's what we call, but you can't store too long with oyster. They get mushy and unpleasant after a while.

Well, well, well...
I need to end my second Kimchee post right here.

My buns aren't that tired this time and my kiddos are gone to bed, but I am hungry...
I better go eat some of my Kimchee with rice.
The photo on top is my Kimchee that has been fermented for about a week in my fridge.
It is too die for...
Can't be compared with store bought. Not even close...

I will come back again in a few days with the last chapter of this process.

Thank you so much for being patient with me.
It is so cold outside, keep yourself warm. Or if you live in tropical, stay cool!

With XOXO,

H

Kimchi or Kimchee, mastering the art of Kimchee Vol 1

I came to realize that the whole world is spelling Kimchi rather than Kimchee. Whatever people prefer to write, it is the one and only side dish that Koreans can't live without. I finally took myself out of comfort zone and made some Kimchi the other day. I am very thrilled to introduce the "how to" of Kimchee but I can't put all the detail in just one post. So I am going to split the post into sections.
Yes, there are many easy and fast version of cabbage Kimchee of course. But it is fall cabbage season now and this is the way we prepare Kimchi at this time of the year.

November through December is busy season for most Korean home cooks. It is the time we prepare endless batches of Kimchee (Kimchi) to last through the winter.  We call it "Kimjang(김장)". We store them in a big stone earthenware jar and bury in the ground to keep them outside so they don't go frozen in the below zero temperature.  However the arrival of Kimchee refrigerator has changed the life of most Koreans. It keeps the fermentation level of Kimchee in the most ideal temperature so that you can enjoy full flavor of Kimchee all year round.

I remember my mother used to make 200 heads of cabbage into Kimchee every November. Yes, 200! We had a big family... It was a pure labor and of course, she had help from neighbors. It was beautiful culture in my home town, when I was growing up, that we look after each other. Whether it was delicious goodies, or needed a shoulder to cry on, we all shared as neighbors. Rain or shine... 

The slices of radish flying out of the chopping board, the pounding sound of smashing garlic and ginger in a stone mortar, and Oh! the smell of fresh fish sauce my mother makes...  As kids my sisters and I squatting down next to the ladies pinching our nose to observe the wondrous moments in life.  I still remember the loud sounds of middle aged Korean Ajumma-s chatting and laughing. They made fun of their husbands (in a good way), gossiping about the celebrities (who got the nose job done recently), talking about their lost dreams and hopes in life, they mingled and shared their thoughts as a wife, a mother, and a woman. When the Kimchee making is over, it was boy's job to dig the ground to bury those jars. And the feast of eating freshly made Kimchee with hot rice and yellow bean paste stew...  my, oh, my!
I wish I could have painted those scenes on the canvas to preserve the memory. How I miss those times!

So I am going to share with you how we make our Kimchee in authentic way. The ultimate cabbage Kimchee recipe you will ever find in the internet. Of course I am not going to make 200 cabbages, not in a million years! I am only going to use 2 cabbages. But this will last a few weeks in our home.

If you are looking for how to make easy and fast version, this is not the right tutorial for you. Kimchee making is a work but you will enjoy the fruit of your labor for a long time and it is not that difficult to master the skill as long as you learn some know-hows.
I will guide you step by step. Enjoy this online tutorial class for free. If you enjoyed it a lot, you can thank me by leaving some words for me. That will cheer me up.
So follow me, my apprentices...

Introducing the 3 important key ingredients;

 The main ingredient, Cabbage!

Select the ones that are heavy and dense. Greener outside and yellower inside.

 

Salt, perhaps the most important ingredients in Kimchee.

I highly recommend to get Korean coarse sea salt.
You can use Chinese product, which is common in Asian grocery market, but I often find the Kimchee made with Chinese salt yield bitter taste.
DO NOT substitute with TABLE SALT!
Your Kimchee will be beyond imagination salty and your kidney will hate you.



Korean chili flakes. Look for coarse flakes (even thought the package says powder)
I always use chili flakes produced in Korea, not from China nor Mexico.
Check their origin in the back side of package.

Got the above ingredients right?  

Now, you are about to enter the school of Korean Kimchee making.

Welcome!

Chapter 1

The cabbage baptism by immersion

Tear off the rough outer leaves, about 2-3 leaves from each cabbage. Set aside. 

They will be used to wrap Kimchee later or make wonderful cabbage soup.

 Cut a slit on the stem about 2" deep all the way down.

Open up and reveal their inner beauties to the world.

 Give another slit on the top end part about 1 1/2" and rinse each cabbage half.

 Look for a large container to make salt water in.
The best ratio of salt to water is 1:10.
You will need to soak the cabbage for at least 12 hours. Yes, you heard me right, 12 hours!

I recommend to do this at night before you go to bed or in the morning before work.

Dissolve salt in the water.
I use 3 cups of salt and 30 cups of water.
Hmmmmm, when was the last time I took my salt bath...?

Before you dunk the cabbages into the salt water, sprinkle some salt onto white stem part of each leaf of cabbage. The white stem part requires more time or salt than leaf to loose its moisture



 Put cabbage halves in salted water, press down so the solution can sip through the layers.
 Don't panic if the water doesn't cover the cabbage completely. It is okay!



 Sprinkle a little more salt on top of the stem part of cabbage.



Cover them with the reserved outer leaves.
Getting ready for holy ceremony...



 Cover with plastic and place something heavy on top to keep them immersed in the water.
 Now you can go to bed. You need your 8 hrs of beauty sleep and cabbages need their rest.



After my 8 hrs of sleep, this is what my cabbage look like in the morning.
Somewhat submissive but not quite there yet.



You need to turn them to the other side and continue to soak for another 4 hours or so.


Bend their stem to see if they are willing to be submissive to you without breaking.
If they bend like that, your cabbage is reborn. If not, put it back for 2 or more hours.
My cabbage was baptized over the night and she was reborn. Hallelujah!



Break the the cabbage half into another half. That will make cabbage quarters, right?



Rinse them 3 times.



Drain them thoroughly. You need to drain well. I let them rest on the colander for 2 hours.

Now the long soaking business is over.
The success of making good Kimchee depends on this soaking part.
If you master this step, your Kimchee is 80% done.
So, go out and celebrate your accomplishment! Cheers!

Well,
I am going to end the first section of Kimchee making class here today.
I can only write so much in one sitting because my buns are getting tired and my kiddos are nagging for some snack. Hope you understand...
I promise I will come back in a few days with the next step, the sidekicks of Kimchee!

Until then, Hasta la vista, baby!

Love,

H

Bulgogi Hotpot, your satisfaction

So, I got a plastic surgery over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.  I mean not on my face but on my blog.  :-)
Nip here and tuck there, the appearance has dramatically changed but the inner spirit remains the same.
Excited to celebrate a new day in blogging, this is the recipe I chose.

Are you tired of leftover Thanksgiving turkey? 
Craving for four legged animal again instead of bird?
But want something easy and comforting, like a bowl of soup, in these cold weather outside?
Then call this # @1-800-ABC-DEFG  Your satisfaction is guaranteed or blah, blah, blah,...

I should have advertised this recipe on TV.
This world is full of satisfaction guaranteed ads. Some works and some don't.
Recipes are sometimes like that too.  Some works, some don't.

Today's recipe is Bulgogi hot pot (불고기 전골, Bulgogi Jeongol). My satisfaction guarantee offer...
Usually prepared in a large shallow pot placed in the middle of the table with portable burner to cook with. It is best to share with many people as it is cooking right on the table but you can enjoy small portion just for you, or you and your significant others.

Important tip!
Most important thing in making any Korean hotpot is using a good stock. I have seen some people using plain water to this dish. Why rinse out the flavor of Bulgogi with water? Please don't. If you use water, my satisfaction guarantee is VOID!
The earth provides bounty of flavor packed creatures. Use them! You will be amazed how all these flavors balance each other.
If you need a recipe for Bulgogi, click here.

For the stock;

Dried anchovies, dried mushrooms, dried sea kelp, dried dates, and black peppercorn.

 Of course I forgot another ingredient in the photo.
Add rooted tips of green onion.

 Here they are.

Combine with water, boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Let it sit for 20 minutes, covered, so that all the flavor will ooze out.

 Grab some Dangmeon, Korean sweet potato noodles, aka, Japchae noodles.

Soak them in the boiling hot water for 10 minutes.

They will relax and soften their attitudes.

 While waiting, prepare vegetable of your choice.

I happened to have spinach, oyster mushroom, onion, and red chili in my fridge.

 Cabbage, zucchini, bokchoy, and tofu are good choices as well.

 Hmmm..., The stock looks fabulous after 20 minutes.

 Strain the stock but reserve the mushrooms and the dates.

Sayonara to anchovies and kelp...

Oh, don't forget to season the stock with soy sauce and rice wine.

 Slice the mushroom.

Dates are for garnish later.

 Place drained noodles on the heavy bottom pan.

 Arrange vegetables and the marinaded Bulgogi the way you like.

 Pour the gorgeous stock over, about half way in the pot.

 Let it boil.

Taste the broth to see if it is seasoned right.

You can add more soy sauce or salt.

Boil until the beef is just cooked.
You can spread the meat around to cook evenly.

Do not overcook. This is not a stew.

Taste the soup.

You will be amazed how Bulgogi marinade and
the stock mingle the flavor each other.

So sorry! I ate the whole pot without sharing with you.

But I can tell you that,

I was satisfied.

Very, very satisfied...

Burp....

Bulgogi Hotpot 

(불고기 전골,  Bulgogi Jeongol )

makes 2 servings or 1 hungry serving

For the stock

5-7 dried anchovies

3-4 dried shitaki mushrooms

2-3 dried sea kelp slices

3-4 dried dates

4-5 white parts of green onion including the roots

2 tsp black peppercorn

4 cup water

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp rice wine

For the hotpot

1/2 lb (220g) Bulgogi marinaded

1/4 lb (150g) Dangmyeon

handful spinach cleaned

handful mushroom of your choice cleaned and sliced,

1/2 onion sliced

salt and pepper to taste

some green onion and red chili for garnish

For the stock, in a medium sauce pan combine all the ingredients EXCEPT soy sauce and rice wine.

Bring to boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes covered. turn off the heat and let it sit for 20 minutes so the flavors will get intensified. 

Strain the stock through a mesh, reserve the mushrooms and dates, but discard the other fillings.

Slice the mushrooms and the dates, set aside.

Meanwhile fill the large mixing bowl with water and let it boil in the microwave. Add the Dangmyeon noodles into the bowl and soak them for 10 minutes. They will get soften and flexible. Drain and set aside

In a 2 qt heavy bottom pot or Korean stone pot, place the noodles on the bottom of the pot. Add the spinach, onion, mushrooms over the noodles. Place the marinaded Bulgogi in the middle. 

Pour the reserved stock over them until the stock will reach to just to cover the vegetables, about half way in the pot.

Bring them to boil spreading the meat around to cook evenly. taste the broth to see if you need to adjust seasoning. You will need some more salt and pepper. Only cook until the beef is just cook through, about 2 minutes.

Add the reserved dates on top with some red chili and green onion for garnish.

Serve immediately. All you need is some Kimchee on the side. Enjoy!

Printable recipe