Cabbage glut? Be Korean – make kimchi!

Kimchi jars outside a house in Seoul.

If Korean, serve at every meal.

Fermented cabbage: sour, pungent and addictive.

To prepare … set aside whole day …

Ever since our holiday in Korea, I’ve wanted to make kimchi.  Every house had its earthenware kimchi jar, or jars, with various kinds of pickled vegetables fermenting happily away within.

This week I had a cabbage mountain, and two days ago, had the perfect excuse to get started, even though, strictly, it wasn’t the right sort of cabbage.  I watched this YouTube video by Maangchi, who’s the Korean cook to watch if you want to acquire a bit of know-how.  You can watch it too, but if you don’t feel like it, here’s my summary underneath.

Between soaking chopped cabbage, salting it for long hours; cooking and cooling a sauce base; preparing and processing onions, garlic, ginger; chopping piles of vegetables finely and adding Korean chilli flakes; mixing the lot together; packing it into an airtight container – you won’t be doing much else between breakfast and a very late lunch.

One chopped cabbage.
Two chopped onions, garlic, ginger …
Ground rice and water ‘custard’, with added processed vegetables.
Mix it all up, really thoroughly.
… and bung it in a jar.
Press down well, and … wait … patiently

Now … now it’s beginning to ferment.  Sour already, it’ll become more pungent as the days and weeks go by.  Try a bit? If it’s your first time you may not like it.  But you may come to love it: fermented, sour, spicy, soft yet crunchy, it’s a meal in its own right or a fine addition to a simple plate of rice or noodles.  Just as well I made a lot.  It was a bit of a palaver.

Making kimchi takes a long time.

It’s worth it – don’t you think?

An offering for Six Word Saturday.

 

Author: margaret21

I'm retired and living in North Yorkshire, where I walk as often as I can, write, volunteer, and travel as often as I can.

41 thoughts on “Cabbage glut? Be Korean – make kimchi!”

  2. Well now, I’m going to have to come and taste it at yours before I know if it’s worthwhile, aren’t I? But it looks great! Happy sullen Saturday, Margaret! At least you’ve got something good to eat. 🙂 🙂

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      4. I loved the glimpses I had of rural Korea. The towns were fascinating, but long term, I’d have found such large metropolises hard to deal with. Such lovely, welcoming people though. I’d love to go back.

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  5. Blimey, well done you! Bring me some next time you come down to London! I understand it’s meant to be good for the ‘good’ gut bacteria. Sadly, I don’t have the stamina to be making anything so arduous anymore…..

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  6. I’ve never tried it but my niece has been making, and eating, kimchi for many years now. She mentors ladies with particular emphasis on relieving problems with menopause and uses kimchi to help prevent menopause and perimenopause problems.

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    1. I think our trip to Korea opened up all kinds of new taste buds (though not the ones necessary for appreciating boiled silk worm larvae), and now we love it.

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  11. I think preparing this would send my anxiety levels too high, though it sounds interesting. It might be too spicy for my sensitive stomach to manage. How feeble that sounds! 😀

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  12. I’m sure it’s lovely but I’m not a fan of choucroute. In my view the best way to deal with cabbage is with butter, black pepper and garlic – lots of all of it!

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  13. It is definitely, definitely addictive and your photos show how easy it is to make, even if time consuming. I find it very difficult to resist raiding the jar before it has had chance to start fermenting. Even in ‘Ipswich’ our local Chinese supermarket sells Korean chilli and all the regular supermarkets stock Chinese leaves/cabbage these days. And, what’s more the one I bought last week was grown in Lancashire and not shipped over from Spain! Win, win all round don’t you think? 😁

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