PCC - The Return of The KimChi !

Hah... the title is ala StarWars due to the excitement of the upcoming Star Wars - The Force Awaken that will be premiering this 18 Dec 15 (11 days away).. Anyway, this post is not about that, its about the return of Porky famous home made KimChi. It was first created long time ago, in cats lair.. by popular demand of Sis Susan, Porky decided to document it this time. And with carefully selected ingredients and fermenting time, it is PERFECT ! super yummy, better than those you get in jar from hypermarket - they're always over fermented, super sour is a sign of over fermenting process. So let's go through the photos, ingredients and preparation steps to follow at the end.

Chili Paste

1 medium size chinese cabbage (wombok)

cut a cross at the bottom, and split it

(sprinkle some salt on top to remove water)

leek is also used in our recipe

also some white radish and spring onion

what else - GINGER

Porky say, potong them rapat rapat

garlic and onion to add flavors

in its natural state after removal of water by salt

Porky say prepare the grue - warm up pan and stir flour until its turn into grue (pksh:glue)

chopped up ingredients mixed with sesame seeds

add chili paste

mixed them up well

apply the mix thoroughly on the cabbage leaf (layer by layer)

roll cabbage and keep in fermenting bottle/jar

use few loose cabbage leaf to cover the top nicely (add a little of fish sauce & sugar)

and keep in room temperature for 2-4 days for fermentation

after 4 days at 25 deg C room - Tadaaa ! Yummy Kim-Chi !

Ingredients

(1) Chinese Cabbage (Wombok) ( 1 medium size)

(2) Spring Onion

(3) Leek

(4) Garlic (1 tbsp)

(5) Ginger (1 tbsp)

(6) Onion (1/2 cup)

(7) Sesame Seed (roasted)

(8) Chili Paste (buy ready Korean made) (3-4 tbsp)

(9) Sugar (1 tbsp)

(10) Fish Sauce (1 tspn)

Preparation Steps

(1) Slice bottom stem of cabbage with 1 inch depth cut

(2) Using your finger, split open the cabbage from the cutting slot (this will maintain nice natural shape leaves on the top or heart of the cabbage)

(3) Do the same on half of the cabbage to quarter portion (so 1 cabbage gives 4 portions)

(4) Wash it under running water, rinse off to dry

(5) Put it in a basin, sprinkle some salt on top and leave for 20 mins, and turn to other side and repeat after 20 mins.

(6) wash away salt under running tap water let dry

(7) Using corn starch/rice flour or general purpose flour, boil and stir on pan until its in glue form. This will be use to bind all chili paste together nicely. You may add some pepper to make it more spicy.

(8) Add chopped ingredients onto a basin, add chili paste, our glue, sugar, fish sauce and sesame seeds - mix them well.

(9) Put on a glove - the chili paste will be HOT !

(10) Apply the mixed ingredients to the cabbage layer by layer equally (or leaf by leaf)

(11) Roll it nicely in palm size and arrange it nicely in a jar

(12) Jar need to be sterilized and dry before use, cap must not be air tight (breathable) 

(13) Put all ready stuffed cabbage into the Jar, cap it and leave it in room temperature (about 25 degC for 2 to 4 days. 

(14) Open and check it daily and press it down with a clean spoon to make sure all cabbages are soak in the juice released during the fermentation.

(15) After 4 days (normally no longer than that or it will be over fermented - turn sour), take all KimChi out, slice it nicely and put into plastic container and to keep in fridge. Cold temperature in fridge will slow down the fermentation, almost to none.

(16) If the KimChi turn sour or mushy, it means its over fermented - can use for cooking soup instead of eating it raw if that is the case.