How to Make Kimchi (김치 ) My Way

Have you ever eaten in a Korean restaurant or in a Korean's house? I did ...

Have you? Then, we both know that Koreans always have kimchi as one of their many side dishes they serve along with their main courses.

I learned making kimchi from my student's mom, the very same woman who taught me cooking JAPCHAE.

These are the only pictures of her I have left as we parted 15 years ago. I haven't heard from her since then cause at that time, I didn't have any email yet. She had to leave out of the blue and we weren't able to bid each other goodbye. I've learned most of the Korean dishes that I know of - from her. It's because we got very close she had often invited me for a meal in her house or had always had lunch with me after our class.

I was her English tutor and in so many of her classes I made her walk me through recipes using English since - that's what she knows best. I found out that Korean students tend to talk enthusiastically and push themselves to speak English when what you ask them to talk about is their forte. Agnes had walked me through many Korean recipes... some of which she made me taste.

I'm a big fan of the movie The Dead Poet Society. Like the character Robin Williams played the role of in there, I don't stick to books when I teach English as most of my students already do that in their English Academy and school. I make them talk as they already could read. It's writing and speaking English that challenges them the most. Doing such activities don't just pull their tongue out, it brings the best out of each of them. I don't know about any other teachers but my best friend and I always fall in love teaching our students so we find ways to make it FUN and not 'torture -ish.'

Going back to kimchi, Agnes is from Busan that's all I know and though she taught me making kimchi the Busan traditional way, I've tweaked the recipe she taught me, making it my own. I guess it's true what they say, "You can take the Asian out of Asia but not Asia out of that Asian."

I just thought back then, "okay.. I don't have the ingredients but I know how to do it - let's tweak it!". Since then, I've been making it this way.

When I moved here, I lost access to Korean fish sauce, Korean chili powder, kimchi rice powder and those tiny shrimp paste. They don't sell them here. Those are the key ingredients in making Agnes' kimchi. She taught it to me in a very traditional way and mind you, every Korean dish is all made with love and attention. Don't expect something like a quick fix.

Here's mine - altered but tastes very much like hers.

Here's how to make it.

Peel each leaf off the Chinese cabbage.

Wash thoroughly.

Arrange them in rows on the chopping board.

Slice vertically and evenly.

Separate the part of the Chinese cabbage stalks with more leaves from the bottom part. Put them in a pan or a huge bowl ( I put mine in a pan.).

Add 1 and 1/2 salt on each pan of tips and bottom parts. Mix thoroughly. It would water in a few minutes and that's normal.

Let the slices of Chinese cabbage sit in the salt till it looks a bit limp. In autumn, it takes me at least 4 to 6 hours to get that. In summer, half an hour would be enough. Leave it soaking in salt.

Go back once they start looking limp, rinse the Chinese cabbage 3x.

Squeeze to the last drop, let it drain well and put back in the pan.

Wash your spring onions.

Cut them into tiny pieces diagonally. Set aside in a bowl.

Work on your kimchi mix next.

Pour in 250 gram sambal oelek in your hand blender. I could put more but I prefer it mild spicy than smoking hot - for it could make your eyes bulge like that of @meesterboom's last hotdog sandwich recipe :).

Peel the garlic cloves and remove the dry ends. Don't touch it for it'll make your fingers burn and sting.

Slice the garlic into small pieces then throw them into the blender, too.

Peel the ginger.

Slice the ginger thinly then throw them into the blender, too.

Peel the onion.

Slice the onion into small pieces then throw them into the blender, too. Both onions and spring onions bully me and made me cry every time.

Cover and blend till every single ingredient is turned into a paste like consistency.

Go back to the spring onions.

Add 3 tablespoon honey into the spring onions.

Add in 2 table spoon fish sauce.

Add in the kimchi mix from the blender and mix thoroughly.

Get another bowl and put a row of the sliced bottom part of the Chinese cabbage. Never touch the kimchi mix. I did in my first years and my hands sting for two days. The garlic's power has been released and was working like that of Pikachu's electric volts.

Fill each top and bottom part of each slice.

Carefully transfer them in a container you could seal tightly.

Fill the container till 1/2 an inch from the lid. That would give room for the water that would come out of the kimchi during fermentation.

Let it ferment in room temperature for 3 days.

Refrigerate after three days.

Enjoy as a side dish with any meal.

No, it doesn't have to be done this compulsive. I'm a bit of an OC - so there~. You could also just put everything together in the pan and mix thoroughly. Fill every container you have, seal tightly and let each ferment in room temperature for three days.

If you want to make Kimchi the Korean way check out the sources I listed on this recipe post.

Every autumn, I just crave kimchi and hub loves having it as a side dish and would ask for it every now and then specially when our noses start running. Many studies said kimchi boosts the immune system. It also improves the probiotic in our guts.

Some of my female students claim that - its that "hot spicy" taste that keeps most of them skinny and fit. In my case, I just love it. Hub and I can't wait a day or two for it to ferment so normally, just after I made it, we automatically eat it with a meal. I could live on just kimchi, baked seaweed and rice. It's enough though .. I'd probably have to eat half a kilo of kimchi in that case :D.

Here are different sources you could check into to back up my claim.
Health Benefits of Kimchi
The Health Benefits of Kimchi
Kimchi Packs Proven Health Benefits

I took each picture with my Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 edition.

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