Mak Kimchi and Kimchi Bokkeumbap

Kimchi has recently become one of my new favorite foods, it started off as me buying a jar of it, using it in my fried rice, to trying it in more of my foods, eating it with barbecue chicken, adding it to leftover Chinese food and so on. Then a couple weeks later, I bought another container of it, this time a homemade variety from the Asian food store near my apartment and as I was halfway through the second jar, I realized that I had spent almost 20 dollars on kimchi for one month. In order to save money, I decided to make my own, knowing that the ingredients (cabbage, garlic, ginger, fish sauce, salt) were really cheap. Then, in late November, my mission was to develop the best recipe for kimchi, using ingredients I could get at Publix and the Asian grocer. Within the past few months, I had tested out and enjoyed around 6 batches of homemade kimchi for around $25 and have perfected my version of this condiment/side dish.
Kimchi is traditionally made in massive quantities in large clay pots which is then buried underground to ferment. The reason for this large amount is because kimchi is eaten on a daily basis in Korean cuisine, I obviously don't eat that much of it and living in an apartment, I don't know how much of a desire I have to bury my food behind my building. This method I provide is one very common in most preparations nowadays, even in Korea, preparing it and setting it in my pantry for a couple days.

Mak Kimchi is a simplified version of traditional tongbaechu kimchi, which uses the same flavors, but a more complicated process, the end result is an incredibly close flavor, but a more rustic look.

Some aspects in my recipe that differ from tradition is I add a scant amount of vinegar, making the liquid a tad bit more acidic and speeds the fermentation by a couple days. I add cardamom to the mix, which you do not taste in the end result, but it highlights the flavor of the ginger, making it more prominent and bright. The most controversial difference in my recipe is that I do not use the traditional gochugaru given that it is rarely available, so I instead took dried thai chilis and ground them to coarse flakes, but depending on availability, gorchugaru or even the mccormick crushed red pepper flakes can be used, because of various heat levels, if using gorchugaru, double or tripple the amount because it is more mild.
One last thing to address, many varieties of kimchi call for making a paste out of water and rice flour, the purpose of this is to help all of the ingredients stick to the cabbage, this is important when preparing the kimchi with the cabbage left whole, I opt not to do this because when making this with small cuts of cabbage it is not a necessity.

Kimchi traditionally is not vegan, and I remember being criticized by an anonymous commenter for suggesting this in my pad thai recipe, but I dont care, my cooking is about equality, so if you want this to be vegan, replace the fish sauce with soy sauce.

3 pounds of napa cabbage (1 medium or 3/4 a large head), quartered, cored and cut into 2 inch lengths

1/3 cup of kosher salt or any coarse/flaky salt, iodized table salt prevents proper fermentation

6tbs of fish sauce

1/4 cup of ground thai chilis or crushed red pepper or 1 cup of gorchugaro

2 tsp of cayene pepper (omit if using the traditional stuff)

10 cloves of garlic, finely minced (I used a garlic press)

2 tsp of ground cardamom

1 tbs of minced ginger (used the garlic press for this too)

2 tbs of honey

1 tbs of white vinegar

6 scalions, roots trimmed, cut into 1 inch lengths

6 ounces of daikon, peeled and julienned (if unavailable, use regular radishes)
Toss the napa cabbage with the salt in a zip top bag, press out a lot of the air and seal. Let this sit for 2 hours. This draws out the liquid from the stems and is the base for the salty flavor of the kimchi.
Drain and rinse well.

Mix the fish sauce, chili component, cayenne (if using), garlic, ginger, cardamom, honey and vinegar together and combine with the cabbage.

Place in a container and refridgerate overnight.The next day, add in the scallions and daikon (this can be done the same day as the rest of the prep, but I forgot to get these the day of, so yeah)

Let sit in a dark place for 2-3 days, opening everyday, as gasses build this is important or the container may crack. As this sits, if ferments more, and gets more sweet and sour, I lable mine with the beginning date, just to keep track of how long its been sitting.  It lasts for about 3 months, refrigerated, however once its raw flavor has gone bad, it still works very well in cooked preparations, like kimchi fried rice, omelets or scallion and kimchi pancakes.

To make the kimchi bokkeumbap (kimchi fried rice)
3 tbs of oil
1/2 of an onion, finely diced
2 cloves of minced garlic
1/2 cup of kimchi, finely chopped
Handful of thawed shelled soybeans
1 1/2 cups of cooked rice
2 tbs or more of soy sauce
1 1/2 tbs of the liquid from the kimchi
1/2 tsp of sesame oil
1 egg
Salt
A couple chopped scallions for garnish
Heat the oil over medium high heat in a nonstick skillet, add in the onion, cook until translucent and the edges start to brown, about 10 minuets

Add in the kimchi, garlic and soybeans, cook until the kimchi gets slightly crispy.

Add in the rice, along with the soy sauce and kimchi liquid, combine and cook for 3 minuets.

Push the rice to the edges of the pan and crack the egg in there, season with a pinch of salt and cook, scrambling until cooked through. Kill the heat and mix the eggs into the rice.

Plate and garnish with the scallions. This is a really inexpensive, simple and delicious meal, and it is a bit of a unique flavor compared to most fried rices.

Fermentation: The Former Necessity Turned Art

Before refrigeration was a thing, human beings all over the world either ate their foods right at the source or used a variety of techniques and processes in order to preserve their foods. The people in regions up far north, such as Nordic Areas, Siberia and tribes of modern day Canada/Alaska, much of the year, preservation wasn't as much of an issue or process, burying various meat products in the snow or within the slush perfectly protected their food from various bacteria. However, when it wasn't as cold for them or year round for pretty much everywhere else in the world, pickling and fermenting were used in order to preserve foods. What these processes have in common is that they both use salt and acidity in order to kill off the bacteria that would otherwise be harbored in their foods. Nowadays, with refrigeration and the popularity of a food producing global society (one where food is raised and sold, rather than hunted and gathered) that segment of cuisine has shrunk dramatically in most of the world. Now a large majority of foods that use these processes are scantly used as a condiment, as a small bite before a meal...Basically a gastronomical afterthought. However, the distinctive flavors fermentation yields are still utalized heavily in eastern and southeastern Aisa. While still a condiment for say, these flavors are not an afterthought, fermented ingredients are what makes the cuisine of these countries very distinctive. I touched on this topic in my "Pad Thai Crimes," post, the fermentation process appeals to a scantly utilized and underestimated taste: umami. Umami is commonly confused with saltiness because it is something often associated with salty foods; tomatoes, sharp cheese, fish sauce and soy, however it is the addition of Glutamic Acid that excites the taste buds which is found in any food, but is  concentrated primarily through the aging of the food.

Most popular Asian condiments are a product of fermentation including; soy sauce, fish sauce, sambal oelek, hoison, sriracha (for those hipsters out there) and gochujang (for those ahead of the hipsters.) 

One of the most ubiquitous foods involving fermentation within eastern Asia is found in Korean Cuisine, Kimchi, which is one of those fun foods like Italian caponata or French ratatouille where it can either be a side to a light meal or a condiment for a heavier meal. Kimchi is made traditionally with a wide stemmed cabbage usually in the napa variety, daikon (a broad Korean radish), garlic, ginger, scallions, a fermented seafood flavor (usually fish sauce or salted baby shrimp) and a large amount of gochugaru, Korean chili powder/flakes (it is more mild, so it is used heavily), Some regional variations would consist of carrots, cucumbers, zucchini or apple. The cabbage is cut, salted for a few hours, rinsed, combined with all of the other flavor components, packed tightly and allowed to sit for a long time. Old tradition consists of packing the kimchi mixture in a earthernware vessel and burring it underground for several months, in modern times, a few days inside a pantry or a few weeks refrigerates does it pretty well. During this time, the structural cells of the napa cabbage and daikon relax and chill out as lactic acid is released as their cells become starved for oxygen, this is what causes the sour taste and sugar is formed within the cells, drained of energy causing a more pronounced sweet flavor. In addition, the formerly overly pungent flavors of garlic and salt are mellowed out and the spice is rounded out, making it lose the painful edge. The product after fermentation it transformed into a complex mixture of flavors; sweet, sour, salty, spicy and mellow garlic that is only accomplished through fermentation.

Since November, I have tried out different recipes, using different flavor components and after 5 trial runs, I finally found the perfect combination of flavors to suit my taste, I have decided this week to make it again as I am running low. There are a few unconventional ingredients I use in my recipe which add a touch of Thai and Arabic influence to the dish, however these flavors are only used to further emphasize those flavors used within the recipe (also to compensate with nonavailability of some ingredients) so there is no reinventing, just improving. My goal was succeeded in this, to provide and develop a recipe for kimchi with more accessible ingredients while highlighting the flavors already there.
*As a side note, I tried out a new camera for this and the next post, so picture quality is lower, I apologize for that and will switch back to my old camera soon.