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<\/a>I’ve been on a fermented food kick lately.\u00a0 I’ve made some\u00a0sourdough baguette, bagels, and boule with starter,\u00a0flavored liqueurs, and kimchi<\/em>. \u00a0Kimchi\u00a0is\u00a0a kicked up pickled cabbage\u00a0and happens to be\u00a0the\u00a0national dish of Korea.\u00a0 It is made mostly with napa cabbage (sometimes with other vegetables like radishes, leeks, and carrots) along with\u00a0a very generous\u00a0amount of garlic,\u00a0Korean chilis, ginger,\u00a0and\u00a0fish sauce.\u00a0\u00a0 It is unapologetically bold, to say the least.\u00a0 In fact, many Korean households have a special fridge for the stuff.\u00a0\u00a0 I usually triple bag my jars and\u00a0rinse the outside of the jar each time I open it.\u00a0 A\u00a0single droplet can flavor everything\u00a0in your fridge.\u00a0 Kimchi can\u00a0easily be found outside of Asian grocery stores.\u00a0 I’ve seen\u00a0jars of the stuff\u00a0at Metcalfe’s<\/a> , Whole Foods, and Willy Street but you just\u00a0can’t beat the home-made stuff.\u00a0 I guarantee you will be hooked.<\/p>\n I had been planning on making kimchi ever since I found Korean pepper (gochugaru)<\/em>\u00a0seeds from Dr. Dave of Midwest Chili Peppers<\/a> based in Madison (who I first learned about from my friend Denise of Digging in the Driftless<\/a>).\u00a0 I\u00a0started the seeds indoors then planted them\u00a0in my summer garden but only got\u00a0a dozen of peppers from 4 plants that survived.\u00a0 I’ve also\u00a0got my one Korean friend, Jikyung, who has eaten\u00a0so much\u00a0kimchi that it probably runs through her veins.\u00a0 That would\u00a0make her an expert.\u00a0 She has also watched her mom make a lot of kimchi.\u00a0 The weekend before the new\u00a0year\u00a0Jikyung brought some dried and roasted Korean peppers from her mom, some fish sauce, and something called saeujeot<\/em> (salt fermented young shrimp).\u00a0 Hard core kimchi makers use sauejeot<\/em> or even fresh oysters but you can stick with just the fish sauce.<\/p>\n Can You Smell It?<\/em><\/p>\n The process that takes the longest is salting cabbage and letting it sit for\u00a0several hours to draw out the moisture then squeezing and rinsing about three times.\u00a0 The kimchi paste is then mixed together then massaged into the cabbage.\u00a0 After that, it is ready to eat but pace yourself because the best stage to eat this is after two weeks.\u00a0 Jikyung and I tried it right away with steamed jasmine rice, fried eggs, bean sprouts, and spinach.\u00a0 You can also eat it with jabchae<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n RECIPE<\/strong><\/p>\n Ingredients<\/em><\/p>\n Slice the cabbage into 1 and 1\/2 inch squares.\u00a0 Place in a large bowl and sprinkle generously with salt.\u00a0 You probably won’t use the full cup.\u00a0 Mix and massage until the salt is evenly incorporated.\u00a0 Let it sit for 4-5 hours.\u00a0 After that, the cabbage will be wilted.\u00a0 Squeeze out and discard the liquid.\u00a0 Rinse three times.<\/p>\n Cut up the radish and carrots and set aside.<\/p>\n For the paste.\u00a0 Get 2 cups of water and mix in the rice flour using a whisk in a sauce pan.\u00a0 Heat gently until you’ve got a gravy-like consistency and then liquid is semi transluscent.\u00a0 Cover and let it cool.\u00a0 In the same pan, mix in the pepper, fish sauce, fermented shrimp, garlic, and ginger.\u00a0 Mix the paste into the carrots and radish then add the cabbage.\u00a0 Massage until thoroughly incorporated.\u00a0 Give it a taste and see if you’d like the balance of flavors.\u00a0 Make adjustments according to taste.\u00a0 Place the kimchi into canning jars.\u00a0 Rinse the jars and store them out of sight for a week.\u00a0 I had mine sit in a cool spot in the basement (about 60 degrees Fahrenheit).\u00a0 After one week, you can refrigerate.\u00a0 If you are worried, \u00a0you can choose to\u00a0refrigerate right away.\u00a0 That’s it.\u00a0 Enjoy! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n *You can buy\u00a0 all of the ingredients at Asian grocery stores.\u00a0 Just tell them that you are going to make kimchi.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/kimchi.jpg\" "\\"kimchi\\"")
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![\"\"](\"http:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/kimchiingredients1.jpeg\" "\\"kimchiingredients\\"")
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