Are You Korean? So I Made Kimchi

The other day while I was placing my order at Fujisawa@The Starling, the cashier finally plucked up enough courage to ask me "Are you Korean?". I get that a lot. 

My partner is not spared either. He get's "Is she Korean?"  every now and then. When that happens, he will tell me "I think somewhere along the line, one of your ancestors was naughty". Eh? Blame my ancestors pulak. Maybe the Korean was naughty. Haiz....

Since the K-craze is still a thing, perhaps I should take the "Are you Korean?" as a compliment heh...heh....heh...

Now what could be more Korean than kimchi? In fact the Koreans even have a kimchi fridge to store kimchi. So to channel my inner Korean, I made kimchi. Hah!

How many people here don't like kimchi? Hands up, hands up! I am one of you. I mean, I eat kimchi when it is served at Korean restaurants. But I don't enjoy it. You won't find me asking for refills, that's for sure.

But suddenly I like kimchi. How's that? Well, I went to Qing He Gu a couple of days ago for my Korean fix. I love Korean food. 

As usual, among the banchan, there will be kimchi. It's like a compulsory thing on the Korean dining table. So I ate it. And I liked it.

I found it savory and pleasant with none of that sour pungent taste that I disliked. Really good eaten with rice. Then I remembered another time when I enjoyed kimchi at BBQ Ma Eul Cup Bap. 

I have been following Maangchi lately on Youtube and I have watched her making kimchi. From there I learnt that there is such a thing as fresh kimchi, the non-fermented kind. Ah! Maybe that's what I would really like, something like a salad. 

Besides, making this kimchi would give me the opportunity to use the the Korean hot pepper flakes which I have in my pantry.

Maangchi calls this "Emergency Kimchi" because it is kimchi that can be made quickly and easily (like if you are stuck in Mexico) or if you can't find napa cabbage (she used regular cabbage).

Traditional authentic kimchi is very time consuming to make - right from preparation (you need to make a porridge mixture and coat every leaf with it) to the fermentation process. 

This one is a blast, you salt the napa cabbage for something like 10 minutes and toss it in a paste made with hot pepper flakes, sugar, fish sauce, minced garlic and chopped spring onions. 

It can be eaten right away or if you want it to ferment you can leave it at room temperature for a few days. Nope, I won't do that because I am very happy with this fresh kimchi. It is delicious and it is something that I won't mind making time and again.

Although the napa cabbage can be salted in just 10 minutes, I chose longer salting at 30 minutes to extract more water from the cabbage so that my kimchi will be less watery.

But a word of warning. If you kept this in the fridge for a couple of days, it will ferment. That was my experience. On day 2, it took on that sour pungent smell and taste but somehow, maybe because I made this myself, I liked it.

So it is best to make small portions, enough for one sitting.

Emergency Kimchi (Yangbaechu-kimchi)

Recipe source : Adapted from Maangchi

Ingredients :

- 700g napa cabbage (my one whole napa cabbage weighed approximately this)

- 1 heaped tablespoon sea salt

- 250ml water

Kimchi paste (mix together) :

- 3 tbsp Korean hot pepper flakes

- 1 tbsp sugar

- 2 tbsp fish sauce

- 6 large cloves garlic, minced (I used garlic press)

- 4 stalks spring onions, sliced

Method :

1. Cut the napa cabbage into quarters lengthwise. Remove the hard core.

2.  Then cut each quarter into thin strips and cut each strip into thirds.

3. Put the cut napa cabbage into a large bowl and add salt and water.

4. Using your hands, toss the cabbage strips with the salt and water. Let stand for 30 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes.

5. At the end of 30 minutes, you will find that the cabbage has wilted and released lots of water. Wash and rinse the cabbage about two or three times and drain. 

6. While the cabbage is draining, make the kimchi paste by mixing the hot pepper flakes, sugar, fish sauce, garlic and spring onions in a large bowl.

7. Add the drained cabbage and using your hands, mix the cabbage thoroughly with the paste.

8. Can be served immediately or kept in the fridge for 3-4 days.

Note : I noticed that on day 2 in the fridge, it fermented and was sourish and pungent.