Homemade Kimchi

Ingredients

 

2 small/medium (about 2kg) napa cabbage i.e. chinese leaf lettuce

1/2 cup unrefined sea salt

1/4 cup sweet rice flour i.e. glutinous rice flour

1 cup water

1/2 cup fish sauce

1 cup of Korean hot chilli pepper flakes

4 cloves garlic, minced

1" piece ginger, minced

1 large onion, minced

1 pear, peeled and grated

Add-ons

1 carrot, shredded

1 bunch spring onions, shredded

(Whatever you like that's in season. I've added shredded beetroot before too. You can even add raw oysters/ squid etc. for a deluxe version.)

 

Method

1. Chop cabbage up into bite-sized pieces.

 

2. Soak in cold water for about 5-10 min. Drain, sprinkle the salt over evenly. Leave it for 1 1/2 hours, but turn about 2-3 times through to salt evenly. By then, the cabbage would have sweat and reduced in volume by quite a lot. Rinse 3 times.

3. Meanwhile, make your spice porridge. Add rice flour to water and bring to a simmer, keep stirring. Remove from heat, and when cool, add the rest of the ingredients to the rice paste.

4. Combine the cabbage, add-ons, and spice porridge. Get your largest mixing bowl and mix well.

5. Press into an airtight, sealable container, and wait.

6. About 2 days later, you'll see bubbles and it will smell slightly sour (in a nice way), that's when you can transfer it to the fridge, where you can try some 2 days later, or let it stay for a months even, depending on how mature you like it. (Note: Every time you take a bit out, be sure to press the kimchi below the kimchi juices.)

See bubbles? There will also be significantly more "juice".

I love kimchi, it's spicy sour tang instantly whets your appetite, and it makes an easy side to grilled meat/fish or even plain rice, or for the older ones, I add it to stews, or even just batter it to make kimchi fritters, yum. Because I like my kimchi really mature, I can only say for sure if it's better than version one a month or so later, but I've sneaked bites (it's been a couple of weeks) and already I like it.

 

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