Kimchi Kraving

I have an insatiable craving for the popular traditional Korean dish kimchi. Kimchi is fermented vegetables with various seasonings and is usually eaten as a banchan (side dish) or made into stews, soups and fried rice. Koreans eat kimchi at every meal and they actually have a museum displaying more than 60 types of kimchi!

Kimchi is made from vegetables and therefore, have high dietary fibre content. It has high contents of vitamin A, riboflavin, thiamine and various lactic acid bacteria. It is also on Health's top 5 "World Healthiest Food" list. It is also said to reduce cancer growth and boosts immunity against SARS. (Source: Wikipedia)

There are many types of kimchi, but I like baechu kimchi which is made of Chinese cabbage. It's really simple to make and unlike the very pricey kimchi you eat in restaurants, homemade kimchi is really cheap!

Make a brine solution with 1/2 cup of salt and 5 cups of water.

Wash and cut the Chinese cabbages into bite-size pieces. Soak the cabbages in the brine solution for 5 to 6 hours. To ensure all of them are submerged completely, I placed a plate filled with water on top.

After the 6 hours, mix 1/2 a tablespoon of chopped garlic, 1/2 a tablespoon of chopped ginger, 1/2 cup of dried chilli flakes (gochukaru), 1 tablespoon of sugar and cut scallions (if you like). I like adding scallions because they give a nice colour to it and it have a pleasant fragrance as well.

Drain the cabbages and rinse them in cold water. Then, throw them into the mixture and mix! I think that it's easiest to use your hands to mix it, but, my hands have to endure the spice after that, which hurts! :)

After mixing, place it in an airtight container. To make sure it was completely airtight, I actually taped the jar with masking tape. But I'm paranoid. :P

Leave it to ferment for 2 to 3 days, then, refridgerate. Mine's been sitting in the kitchen for 3 days already. I'm gearing up to make kimchi jjiggae (kimchi stew) on Sunday! :)

$$: Overall cost was less than RM 5 (1.5 USD)