Song Joon Son

How to make a Kimchi

Kimchi is a raw, pickled vegetable concoction indispensible to Korean cuisine. Kimchi usually includes tiny fish or shrimp.

Ingredients1 Large Korean cabbage1/2 cup sea salt1/2 teaspoon -Cayenne pepper5 - Spring onions, finely chopped2 cloves -Garlic, finely chopped5 cm- Fresh ginger, grated3 teaspoons – Chopped fresh chili1 tablespoon – caster sugar2 1/2 cups – cold water.

Method

1. Wash the Chinese cabbage well, remove the outermost leaves and trim off the root. Traditionally, the heads are split lengthwise, and made into kimchi in this form. I recommend cutting the cabbage into smaller pieces.

After splitting lengthwise, cut out

a bit of the solid mass near the root. Laying halves flat side down, make 3 lengthwise cuts along each half. Then chop widthwise into one inch wide sections.

2. Place the

chopped cabbage into a large bowl or basin. Take 2 cups of the salt and make a brine with 15 or so cups of water. Pour the saltwater over the cabbage, and mix well. Let this stand for at least one hour.

3.Chop up garlic and ginger. The amount you use is up to you. The only thing you really need to make kimchi is the salt: a certain amount of salt is needed to pickle and preserve the cabbage.

4. Mix the

garlic, ginger, 1.5 or so cups of red pepper and the remaining 1 cup of salt with a half cup or so of water. Mix it well. Your mixing hand will start to tingle.

5.Mix the paste

from above into the cabbage. Add optional ingredients mentioned above, if desired. Mix it all up well, until the paste coats the cabbage evenly.

Mix it up some more!

6.Once it's thoroughly

mixed, place the mixture into very clean containers. Fill containers close to the rim. If there is some red liquid left over, pour it into each container.

You did it! You made your own kimchi!