How to Make Korean Spicy Kimchi Video
Spicy Chinese cabbage I have made it countless times, every time I dine at a Korean restaurant, I order one to taste the different flavors from each place. Although this is something everyone has and can easily buy from the supermarket, it's just an ordinary small dish. However, honestly speaking, not many restaurants make it taste good.
It's either too salty or too bland, or the fermentation isn't done properly without any sourness. To do it just right seems to be quite challenging. Delicious Korean spicy pickled cabbage should be slightly sour, slightly sweet, slightly salty, and slightly spicy. Each flavor shouldn't stand out excessively, crisp and refreshing, removing greasiness.
It's precisely because every tiny variable can affect the final taste that it matters even more that everyone has different experiences and patience levels, making each restaurant's version unique. Sometimes I wonder, even if following my recipe exactly, what would others' versions taste like?
Ingredients:Napa cabbage One head about 500g, one tablespoon of salt (about 15g),Chinese chives Two stalks,Apple A small half about 40g, five cloves of garlic, thumb-sized ginger A small piece, fish sauce one tablespoon,sticky rice flour Two tablespoons, Korean red pepper powder four tablespoons, sugar one tablespoon
Steps:
1. Rinse the cabbage lightly and pat dry, cut it in half, evenly sprinkle salt between the leaves, rub and let it sit for 6-8 hours.
2. In a small pot, add 150ml water, two tablespoons of sticky rice flour, stir over low heat until thickened and big bubbles form.3. Turn off the heat, mix in one tablespoon of sugar
until completely dissolved, let it cool.4. Peel and crush the ginger into a paste, peel and crush a small half apple into a pulp, mince five cloves of garlic, put them in a large bowl. 5. Add the cooled rice flour mixture, fish sauce, and Korean red pepper powder, mix well.
6. Rinse the pickled cabbage once with clean water, thoroughly squeeze out the excess moisture, place it in a large bowl.
7. Wash and dry the Chinese chives, tap the roots slightly, then cut into finger-length pieces, stir them with the pepper flour mixture.
8. Apply the marinated filling to each cabbage leaf, opening each leaf carefully, apply the seasoning mainly to the stem part.
9. Fully coat both halves of the cabbage, wrap and place in a container, cover but don't press tightly, let it sit at room temperature for 1-2 days.
10. Transfer to the refrigerator, continue low-temperature fermentation for 5-7 days before consumption.
Tips:
1. Ensure hands and utensils are clean and free of oil during handling.
2. Use sea salt for better taste, about 3% by weight.
3. Stir the rice flour mixture over low heat to prevent lumps.
4. Rinse the pickled cabbage once to remove surface salt, if too salty, rinse a few more times as overly salty cabbages affect fermentation.
5. The apple can be replaced with
pear
, fish sauce with shrimp paste.6. Wear gloves when handling the peppers to avoid skin irritation. 7. For consumption as a side dish, ferment in the refrigerator for 5-7 days is best.
If used in cooking, let it sit longer, the longer the better, more sour with time.
When eaten as a side dish, ferment in the refrigerator for 5-7 days. If to be used in cooking, it can be left longer, with the sour taste becoming stronger over time.
