Sara is: Fermenting!

Hello Tuesday!

Today's adventure is Korean style!

squuuuid

Oddly enough, watching Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern this morning really worked up my appetite for Korean food, despite the fact that Andrew is the most unappetizing looking thing on television today.
So, I headed to the Asian market in town and picked up a few things with which to make kimchi!
The kimchi recipe is slightly time consuming, but only as far as chopping the cabbage and fitting it into the jar. The actual procedure isn't too terrible. If you had a spare hour you could easily finish a pretty good amount. I wont say that this is a true or authentic Korean recipe, as I am not a true or authentic Korean. I'm just a white girl from New Jersey, and this recipe is simply the way I love Kimchi. Not too, too spicy, very gingery, and very garlicky.

You will need:

equipment
2 big bowls
1 large, clean and rinsed jar with a tight fitting lid. I actually asked the nice lady at my Asian market, and she gave me an empty kimchi jar for free!
A sharp knife
A microplane or other grater
A sheetpan or other container big enough to lay out the cabbage leaves on without too much overlap.

ingredients
1 head of napa cabbage
Fresh ginger, about an inch ungrated
4 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
2 tablespoons fermented soybean paste
2 tablespoons molasses
Chili flakes, to taste, depending on how spicy you prefer. I added about a tablespoon
Salt
5 green onions
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

procedure

First, prep the cabbage. Cut approximately an inch off the bottom end of the cabbage, to remove the core. Take each leaf and rinse thoroughly to remove any grit or dirt. Lay between 2 and 4 leaves flat on your cutting board on top of one another. Cut twice, in the shape of a V to remove the firm rib. Repeat until you have done all of the leaves. Once finished, take the ribs and slice into 1/4 inch strips. Place these strips into one of the bowls, and set aside. Now, with the remainder of the leaves cut them in half, and then in half again, so that each leaf is quarted and cut into a square. Place all of the leaves into the bowl with the ribs and salt liberally. Set aside and make the sauce.

Salted cabbage ribs

Grate the ginger into the other bowl. If you don't have a grater you could mince it with a knife. Mince the garlic, chop the green onion and add to the same bowl along with the remaining ingredients. Stir to combine.

Rinse the cabbage well to remove the salt and press out as much of the water as you can. Dip each of the larger leaf pieces into the sauce and fold them once. Place these pieces into the bottom of the jar, layering until only rib pieces and small leaves remain. Toss these into the remaining sauce and then place them in the jar, pushing downward to fit as much as possible, as the kimchi will shrink as it ferments. In my large jar, which probably holds a quart, I just fit the entire head of cabbage. Pour any liquid left over into the jar and close the lid tightly. This technically isn't kimchi until it ferments, but it will begin fermenting within an hour or so. Usually, I have a hard time keeping it in the house, as I love this cabbage at all stages of it's production. Especially when it's just barely fermented. Within a day or two, however, you will have delicious fizzy kimchi!

Done!