Winter Kimchi

Photo: ping

Ingredients

1 small napa cabbage, (abt ½ kg) quartered lengthways with stems attached and washed

Brine solution (3- 4 liters water+ 1 ½ cups coarse salt)

3 tablespoons heaped chilly paste (reduce for less spicy)/ korean gochujang paste

1/4 bowl cooked rice

150 grams radish, julienned

40 grams spring onions, cut into abt 2" lengths

15 grams chilly flakes

10 grams sugar

1 whole garlic bulb, skinned

2 tablespoons fermented baby shrimps/ cincalok (you can even use brined fish/anchovies)

1/8 cup fish sauce

Preparation

Soak the quartered cabbage in the brine solution for 4 hours, weighing the cabbage down with a heavy plate.

Remove and drain.

Place garlic cloves, rice, fermented shrimp, fish sauce, sugar, chilly paste and chilly flakes in a food processor and zap to a smooth paste. Stir in spring onions.

Stuff the cabbage with the paste, making sure to stuff in between the individual leaves and coating every inch of it.

Place kimchi into an airtight container and leave at room temperature for a day before leaving it to ferment further in the fridge for at least another week before consuming. I left mine for about 3 weeks.

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About

The reason for the "winter" bit in the title is that many of us (Yeah, me included until I did some research leading up to this recipe) associates the word "kimchi" to just one type of kimchi ... this one. I have found that there are so many other variations made at different times of the year, based on seasonal vegetables and also to take advantage of the weather before the era of refrigeration. And even with the modern refrigeration methods today, Koreans continue to consume kimchi according to traditional seasonal preferences.