Fiery homemade kimchi
Kimchi is one of those divisive foods. You either love it, hate it, or haven鈥檛 even gotten near enough to decide. One of the best things about moving to Seattle 16 years ago was my introduction to Korean food. And even around here, it鈥檚 an under-celebrated, almost undiscovered cuisine. I鈥檓 waiting for Korean to get its big break like Vietnamese food has, or tapas or izakaya. In the meantime, I鈥檒l definitely be making more batches of this. (Though Yancey鈥檚 hoping I鈥檒l wait a few weeks, since our entire house now smells like a kimchi factory.)
Fair warning 鈥� this recipe takes a day or two to make (depending on if you cheat like I did), involves massaging daikon strands, and will find you putting anchovies in the food processor with apples. Now, 迟丑补迟鈥檚 my love language, but I鈥檇 be surprised if it鈥檚 everyone鈥檚. Were I to commence with a hard sell, I鈥檇 say that kimchi is full of good-for-you live cultures (naturally present in cabbage), livens up a lunch rice bowl like nobody鈥檚 business, kicks up the endorphins with its spice, will make you feel like a globally conscious cook, and the homemade version is vastly better than most store-bought jars. If you鈥檙e not ready to make the plunge, I鈥檝e got a half gallon of it waiting to be eaten in my fridge. Come by and I鈥檒l send you home with some. Just make sure to bring an airtight container. Your partner or roommate will thank you.
This recipe is from Fine Cooking. Thank goodness I found a link to it, because I didn鈥檛 feel like typing it out. It instructs you to let the paste sit for 24 hours before you combine it with the cabbage. I didn鈥檛 do that. I let it sit for a couple hours. I was tempted to just grate the ginger rather than julienne it, but I鈥檓 glad I didn鈥檛. The long, crunchy strands are toothsome and delicious. I didn鈥檛 matchstick the garlic, however. Why would someone impatient with details go for that?! I just finely chopped it. And what else can you do with kimchi besides eat it straight from the jar? Make soup (recipe coming up, I鈥檓 lightly promising), mix it with scrambled eggs, drizzle a little sesame oil over it and serve as a side salad. Let me know what you come up with.
Fiery Homemade Kimchi by Debra Samuels from
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