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Friday, June 12, 2009

Kimchi

Mom's in town and the one request I made was that she show me how to make her gloriously fabulous, much-missed, uber-delicious kimchi. As it is a 2-day process, she wound up showing Rodney how to make kimchi. Fortunately for me, Rodney captured images. At least I have something to work with when I make an attempt.

With that, here we go:

Quarter some bok-choy. I'm guessing 3 heads total to yield 12 quarters.


Pile it up in the biggest container you have. Mom used my roasting pan, which is about 12x14x2.


Salt those quarters.


Don't be shy, pour that salt on, getting between quarters and even the leaves.


And for good measure, pour on a layer of salt over the entire thing. Cover the salted bok-choy with a clean kitchen towel and let it rest overnight at room temperature.


You'll see that the cabbage shrank overnight:


Trim the green onions of the dead ends and hairy tips.


Bias cut the onions to about 1" sections, including the white tips.


Mash the garlic cloves with the butt of a chef's knife.


Cut the reduced bok-choy into 2" sections and place the bok-choy sections in a large bowl.


Add the onions and garlic.


Add red pepper powder, sesame seeds and fish sauce to the bok-choy mixture.


Mix ingedients by hand until homogeneous.


Pack kimchi into clean glass jars, allowing some headspace if possible.


Refrigerate for a few days and taste occasionally to determine when you consider it "done".


2 comments:

Jess said...

This was so interesting to learn about!

The Cook said...

I am embarrassed to say I have yet to do this for myself! What was really funny when I saw these photos is how Mom utilized all parts of the knife. Who mashes garlic with the butt of a knife; yet why not? It must have worked for her for decades.