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tarigwaemirHaste Street, on the Feast of St. Anthony the Abbot
As promised, more details on my first attempt at making kimchi:
깍두기 (daikon kimchi)
- As a preface: most people think of kimchi made from Chinese cabbage as kimchi, but really, you can make kimchi from any combination of vegetables you can imagine. Kkakdugi is kimchi made from daikon or Chinese radish.
- Slice daikon into one-inch cubes. (Or larger, but you'll have to pickle the batch longer.) Remember that the daikon will shrink during pickling. I used one small daikon and didn't peel it, though I think my mother usually does. (By the way, the sight of me trying to slice up this daikon using my largest knife was rather comic to behold. My knifework is awful.)
- Coat with salt, and let sit for about a half-hour or longer depending on how much you're making. As a side note, the kimchi will become less salty as you let it ripen, so take that into account when you're adding the salt.
- The daikon loses water due to osmosis, so drain the fluid completely before continuing. Coat with gochugaru (red pepper flakes). Gochugaru can differ pretty drastically in its spiciness depending on what brand you buy, so I can't offer a good standard for how much you should use, but I basically added enough so that the whole batch was evenly "stained" with red. Also, if your skin is sensitive or you're not used to spices, I recommend you wear gloves. I used bare hands, but I was making a fairly small batch and I don't think my skin is particularly sensitive to capsaicin.
- The tough part: adding the seasonings. Everyone has a slightly different recipe, and some families even have "secret ingredients" that are passed down from mother-in-law to daughter-in-law. (My mother tells me that traditionally, girls didn't learn how to make kimchi until after they were married so that they could learn how to make it in the style of their mother-in-law rather than their mother.) Kkakdugi is simple because you usually don't get very extravagant with the seasonings: at the bare minimum, you put in green onions, garlic, sugar and jeot.
- A tip for green onions is to cut off the green leafy part and only use the white fleshy stem. I think it's because the green leafy part tends to go bad after a while; pa-kimchi (green onion kimchi) is usually eaten without fermenting, if I recall correctly. I used four generous spoonfuls of sugar but probably could have added in another spoonful, since kkakdugi is supposed to be a sweet kimchi. Jeot is any sort of pickled seafood; I used two spoonfuls of pickled brine shrimp, which can be bought in jars at your local Asian supermarket. (Jeot is also really good with pork belly or pork feet.)
- Caption for the following photo: vegetable carnage! The daikon gets more red as you add sugar and as the daikon continues to pickle.
- A few more side notes on seasonings: I'm not sure what else people put in kkakdugi. Ginger or sesame seeds, perhaps? For the standard baechu-kimchi (i.e. kimchi made from Chinese cabbage), I've seen any combination of the following: carrots, ginger, sesame oil, small dried anchovies (myeolchi), Asian pears, various types of jeot (such as clam jeot or oyster jeot), various types of sprouts...and that's just what my mother's used. There are considerable regional differences as well.
- Store in a jar outside for a day or two to ripen before moving to the fridge. You'll notice the level of "brine" rising in the jar as you let it sit; there will also be small bubbles by the time you should start refrigerating it. ("Ripe" kimchi is sour. Some people like to eat their kimchi "green" or "unripened"; if you're one of those, move the kimchi to the fridge immediately and let it sit in the fridge for a few days before you start eating.) Since it's fairly cold in my apartment, I let mine sit outside for two days, and it's still not completely ripe. (The "brine" only fills the jar about halfway, so I'm taking out the kimchi from the bottom of the jar to eat.)
Tentative verdict: use a little more sugar and maybe a little less salt. The batch hasn't completely ripened yet, so it's hard to tell. Spiciness is just right, however, so being liberal with the gochugaru doesn't hurt.
콩나물국 (bean sprout soup)
- If you're fussy, like my mother, prune the root end of the bean sprouts after washing. Put into the pot, and add enough water to cover the bean sprouts.
- Bring to a slow boil then reduce the heat to let simmer. The longer you simmer, the better the taste of the soup. I had mine on low heat for slightly over thirty minutes. The soup will turn a yellow color similar to the color of the beans.
- Add minced garlic and chopped green onions (green leafy part). Season with salt and bring to a quick boil.
- Add a drop of sesame oil before serving. Eat with rice.
Bean sprout soup is one of my childhood comfort foods. Saturday lunches with my mother used to consist of cold leftover rice in warmed-up bean sprout soup with yeolmu-kimchi (kimchi made from young radish sprouts). My first attempt turned out all right, but I think I either put in a little too much garlic or not enough salt because the taste is a little off.
깻잎 (sesame leaves)
- Wash sesame leaves and shake dry.
- Mix together soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds, gochugaru, and a little minced garlic in a separate bowl. I think I used about a 1:4 ratio of soy sauce to sesame oil, and I put in enough gochugaru so I could taste the spice, but not enough to actually call it spicy. I should have used some green onions as well, but I ran out.
- In a small pot, alternate layers of soy sauce mixture and one or two sesame seed leaves. Put on high heat and bring to a quick boil, then remove from heat quickly.
- Wrap over rice when eating. The leaves are very thin, so this is an exercise in advanced chopstick skills.
Oddly enough, this side dish came out just right even though I seasoned it rather blindly. O_O I love sesame leaves; they taste good in lettuce wraps with bulgogi too.
Photograph of the meal:
Also, I just realized that I forgot to thank![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tsutanai, lucathia_rykatu, athousandwinds, datenshi_blue and magicnoire for their holiday cards. I've been delinquent and failed to send out my Christmas cards in time for Christmas or New Year's, but I'll try to send them out anyway, if those of you who requested don't mind getting a holiday card over a month late. >_>
In![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
blind_go news, those of you who aren't artistically gifted can still have fun this round by posting FSTs this month.
The discussion period atbibliophages ends tomorrow, so I've posted some blog links to close off the round. Also, I seem to have failed to mention that I made a post on bookwormhabitat asking for your personal top ten bookstores.
Back to work!
Yours &c.
As promised, more details on my first attempt at making kimchi:
깍두기 (daikon kimchi)
- As a preface: most people think of kimchi made from Chinese cabbage as kimchi, but really, you can make kimchi from any combination of vegetables you can imagine. Kkakdugi is kimchi made from daikon or Chinese radish.
- Slice daikon into one-inch cubes. (Or larger, but you'll have to pickle the batch longer.) Remember that the daikon will shrink during pickling. I used one small daikon and didn't peel it, though I think my mother usually does. (By the way, the sight of me trying to slice up this daikon using my largest knife was rather comic to behold. My knifework is awful.)
- Coat with salt, and let sit for about a half-hour or longer depending on how much you're making. As a side note, the kimchi will become less salty as you let it ripen, so take that into account when you're adding the salt.
- The daikon loses water due to osmosis, so drain the fluid completely before continuing. Coat with gochugaru (red pepper flakes). Gochugaru can differ pretty drastically in its spiciness depending on what brand you buy, so I can't offer a good standard for how much you should use, but I basically added enough so that the whole batch was evenly "stained" with red. Also, if your skin is sensitive or you're not used to spices, I recommend you wear gloves. I used bare hands, but I was making a fairly small batch and I don't think my skin is particularly sensitive to capsaicin.
- The tough part: adding the seasonings. Everyone has a slightly different recipe, and some families even have "secret ingredients" that are passed down from mother-in-law to daughter-in-law. (My mother tells me that traditionally, girls didn't learn how to make kimchi until after they were married so that they could learn how to make it in the style of their mother-in-law rather than their mother.) Kkakdugi is simple because you usually don't get very extravagant with the seasonings: at the bare minimum, you put in green onions, garlic, sugar and jeot.
- A tip for green onions is to cut off the green leafy part and only use the white fleshy stem. I think it's because the green leafy part tends to go bad after a while; pa-kimchi (green onion kimchi) is usually eaten without fermenting, if I recall correctly. I used four generous spoonfuls of sugar but probably could have added in another spoonful, since kkakdugi is supposed to be a sweet kimchi. Jeot is any sort of pickled seafood; I used two spoonfuls of pickled brine shrimp, which can be bought in jars at your local Asian supermarket. (Jeot is also really good with pork belly or pork feet.)
- Caption for the following photo: vegetable carnage! The daikon gets more red as you add sugar and as the daikon continues to pickle.
- A few more side notes on seasonings: I'm not sure what else people put in kkakdugi. Ginger or sesame seeds, perhaps? For the standard baechu-kimchi (i.e. kimchi made from Chinese cabbage), I've seen any combination of the following: carrots, ginger, sesame oil, small dried anchovies (myeolchi), Asian pears, various types of jeot (such as clam jeot or oyster jeot), various types of sprouts...and that's just what my mother's used. There are considerable regional differences as well.
- Store in a jar outside for a day or two to ripen before moving to the fridge. You'll notice the level of "brine" rising in the jar as you let it sit; there will also be small bubbles by the time you should start refrigerating it. ("Ripe" kimchi is sour. Some people like to eat their kimchi "green" or "unripened"; if you're one of those, move the kimchi to the fridge immediately and let it sit in the fridge for a few days before you start eating.) Since it's fairly cold in my apartment, I let mine sit outside for two days, and it's still not completely ripe. (The "brine" only fills the jar about halfway, so I'm taking out the kimchi from the bottom of the jar to eat.)
Tentative verdict: use a little more sugar and maybe a little less salt. The batch hasn't completely ripened yet, so it's hard to tell. Spiciness is just right, however, so being liberal with the gochugaru doesn't hurt.
콩나물국 (bean sprout soup)
- If you're fussy, like my mother, prune the root end of the bean sprouts after washing. Put into the pot, and add enough water to cover the bean sprouts.
- Bring to a slow boil then reduce the heat to let simmer. The longer you simmer, the better the taste of the soup. I had mine on low heat for slightly over thirty minutes. The soup will turn a yellow color similar to the color of the beans.
- Add minced garlic and chopped green onions (green leafy part). Season with salt and bring to a quick boil.
- Add a drop of sesame oil before serving. Eat with rice.
Bean sprout soup is one of my childhood comfort foods. Saturday lunches with my mother used to consist of cold leftover rice in warmed-up bean sprout soup with yeolmu-kimchi (kimchi made from young radish sprouts). My first attempt turned out all right, but I think I either put in a little too much garlic or not enough salt because the taste is a little off.
깻잎 (sesame leaves)
- Wash sesame leaves and shake dry.
- Mix together soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds, gochugaru, and a little minced garlic in a separate bowl. I think I used about a 1:4 ratio of soy sauce to sesame oil, and I put in enough gochugaru so I could taste the spice, but not enough to actually call it spicy. I should have used some green onions as well, but I ran out.
- In a small pot, alternate layers of soy sauce mixture and one or two sesame seed leaves. Put on high heat and bring to a quick boil, then remove from heat quickly.
- Wrap over rice when eating. The leaves are very thin, so this is an exercise in advanced chopstick skills.
Oddly enough, this side dish came out just right even though I seasoned it rather blindly. O_O I love sesame leaves; they taste good in lettuce wraps with bulgogi too.
Photograph of the meal:
Also, I just realized that I forgot to thank
tsutanai, lucathia_rykatu, athousandwinds, datenshi_blue and magicnoire for their holiday cards. I've been delinquent and failed to send out my Christmas cards in time for Christmas or New Year's, but I'll try to send them out anyway, if those of you who requested don't mind getting a holiday card over a month late. >_>In
blind_go news, those of you who aren't artistically gifted can still have fun this round by posting FSTs this month.The discussion period at
bibliophages ends tomorrow, so I've posted some blog links to close off the round. Also, I seem to have failed to mention that I made a post on bookwormhabitat asking for your personal top ten bookstores.Back to work!
Yours &c.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-18 05:34 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-18 07:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-18 07:19 am (UTC)The kkagdugi sounds yummy! I'm enjoying the photo- and commentary- ventures into Korean food!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-18 03:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-18 03:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-19 10:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-18 07:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-18 08:19 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-18 07:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-18 03:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-18 07:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-18 08:28 pm (UTC)Bean sprouts! I never knew what they were called--though I adore them since it's that, or a bitter-er vegetable.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-26 09:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-26 09:59 pm (UTC)