I am a BIG kimchi fan. Ok let me correct this, WE are big kimchi fans, my better half and I. We love it with plain instant noodles, or with pasta to instantly perk up some monotonous flavours. I love the sour & spicy nature of the vegetables in kimchi, which is no surpise considering I can eat radish as a snack, all raw!
I usually get our mat kimchi stock from AEON nearby, but often it just slips my mind while I am shopping there. I come home with big regrets... and make sure I put it into the shopping list next.
In fact, due to the trouble of buying (yeah rite!), I have considered making kimchi at home, for nothing (that's the auntie in me talking). I got the hold of some recipes online, but seeing all those special Korean ingredients just puts me off. Like I have to go out shopping just for that one day and then get it done. Neh, ditched the idea, going out to buy mat kimchi is much simpler - that too I forget!
This week I was making some chilli sauce for chicken rice purposes. While doing my QC (ie licking the blender off) I realised it tasted a whole lot close to kimchi, given some cabbages.
And there I went digging into my cabbage, washed and cut em. Added into the sauce. Some spring onion too. Then I thought I would check online to see if any other 'essence' needed to cover the kimchi taste, so I splashed in some fish sauce and voila! Then I felt it needed more spice, so I added one packet of dominoes chilli flakes. Just perfect!
On the first day I was tasting it every hour, then I realised I need to 'forget' about it and let it ferment longer. On the fourth day, that is today, I could not hold myself. I ate a good chunk of it and may I say so myself, the kimchi passed with flying colours!
And now my friends, the time has come that I bestow my accidental recipe to you and let this chain of kimchi making continue for the best of mankind & our tastebuds, too!
You Need:To be blended:
100g red chillis, deseeded
20 gram ginger
50 gram garlic
100ml white vinegar
some salt
half tsp sugar
a splash of fish sauce
chinese cabbage - cut small
radish - grated
spring onion
some chilli flakes
Method:1) Blend the ingredients together. Keep aside
2) Put the vegetables into a container you want to ferment it in. Pour the sauce over and try to compact the vegetables in. Don't worry if they still stick out, they will eventually soften and get submerged, or perhaps you will get impatient and start eating during early stages of fermenting.
3) Leave it on counter top for 2-3 days. Chill it another 4 days and you are ready to eat it!
The common practice is to let the cabbage sit in a large bowl with salt to soften it up, for up to 12 hours. Clearly mine is a shorter version, but hey the taste works, and I don't mind the crunch!
Also you can add or reduce the red chillies according your taste, for me this has been just perfect! I can safely say I will not be buying kimchi from the stores for a while. My auntie-meter is current flashing at the highest level. I can make it at home for nothing! Lets hope this passion burns for a while, with that amount of chilli, I don't doubt it! And thanks to GST, we sure have to find more homemades than just one.
Our love for kimchi budded from those Korean BBQ. We love Korean BBQ with all those amount of meat, and free flow condiments, including kimchi. We can spend a whole afternoon slowly finishing our meal for 4 - just the two of us!
You don't believe me? Check out the spread.
Before:
And after, this is following numerous refills (yay to refills!):
Pictures of our happy bellies are not included, but you sure can imagine how happy! Neh, no soju needed to give the sam gyap sal high! Note to self: try to recreate Korean BBQ at home.
