Kimchi is a Korean food and probably my favourite pickle. Here's the recipe I use.
- Cut up a cabbage (wombok is best but regular will do)
- Add a couple of tablespoons of salt and seal in a container and put in the fridge.
- After a day or so, drain the cabbage. I usually loosen the lid, turn it upside down and let it drain while sitting on the edge of the kitchen sink for 10 minutes.
- Add 125ml rice wine vinegar, 125ml soy sauce, couple of teaspoons of chilli powder, couple of teaspoons of cayenne pepper, couple of cloves of grated garlic, a few centimetres of grated ginger knob, few tablespoons of sugar. Adjust the ratio of everything but the liquids to suit your preference or spice tolerance.
- Reseal the container and put it in the fridge. It'll keep for four weeks but is ready to start eating within an hour or two.
- Add cut up shallots when serving it up and you can drizzle a bit of sesame oil on too or sesame seeds. I often add the shallots to the kimchi in the container after a day or two when the cabbage has shrunk after absorbing the liquid.
The process leaves you with about half the cabbage you started with, after it's lost water and broken down in the brine.
Red capsicum is the best thing to have with it. Kimchi is great stir fried with vegies and noodles or rice or you can add it to salad leaves. It's great with fried food like fish, bacon or calamari rings -- the vinegar cuts through the grease and it's good for digestion.
Here's my kimchi salad with capsicum, grated ham, mixed leaves and sesame oil.
