homemade kimchi anyone?

drosebud

I use a recipe from a Korean cookery book. The fiddliest bit in the recipe is wrapping the cabbage leaves. I only did that once as the next time I chopped it up into chunks and mixed it in a bowl. I couldn't tell the difference, taste-wise, so have done it this way ever since. I make it in big batches, and don't find it particularly onerous.

Theo166

drosebud wrote: »

I use a recipe from a Korean cookery book. The fiddliest bit in the recipe is wrapping the cabbage leaves. I only did that once as the next time I chopped it up into chunks and mixed it in a bowl. I couldn't tell the difference, taste-wise, so have done it this way ever since. I make it in big batches, and don't find it particularly onerous.

Yea, I took the chopping route myself. If I'm going to keep making this I have to mix it up in a bowl, not individually bathe each leaf with the sauce. I really like food, but am not an artiste.

Theo166

888sisters_weight888 wrote: »

For having enjoyed some varieties of homemade kimchi, I can only recommend one of my sister's go-to with Korean Favourites: https://www.maangchi.com/recipes/kimchi
ETA typo

I just made a batch of the radish kimchi following her instruction. Super easy following her instructions, after I stocked up on the right ingredients from a local Asian Grocery. Took forever to find the Korean Chili powder on the shelves
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kkakdugi

Not my image, but looks darn close to what I ended up with.

Geocitiesuser

My supermarket was selling the most amazing kimchi in the produce section, then stopped all of a sudden. Where do you get the korean ingredients? (like korean cabbage?) I do not know of any asian specialty stores near me... can I use american cabbage?

imagin4more

So, not exactly kimchi, but I make this quick salad sometimes when I am craving kimchi and I don't have any

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/view/204386282155069

Theo166

Geocitiesuser wrote: »

My supermarket was selling the most amazing kimchi in the produce section, then stopped all of a sudden. Where do you get the korean ingredients? (like korean cabbage?) I do not know of any asian specialty stores near me... can I use american cabbage?

I think you can make kimchi with just about any veggie, there are so many different kinds. I saw online some people making it with normal cabbage. The Asian cabbage is called Napa cabbage, you may want to double check. For other ingredients, I think the one essential one is Korean chili flakes (gochugaru) which are much milder than what you buy for chili or mexican food. I would buy this online. I also read you can substitute korean miso chili paste (gochugang) for the dry flakes. You might be able to find gochugang as it's a main condiment, like ketchup in the west.

ConquerAndBloom

Kimchi is actually one of the few foods that I get SEVERE cravings for, oddly enough. I'm going to have to try this out!

melaniedscott

Check out Michael Pollan's (spelling!?!) book Cooked. Has a section about fermentation that's pretty interesting.

enterdanger

I make tsukemono all the time (pickled daikon) but I've never done kimchi. Now I want to. I usually buy it from the asian grocer near my work.

dklibert

enterdanger wrote: »

I make tsukemono all the time (pickled daikon) but I've never done kimchi. Now I want to. I usually buy it from the asian grocer near my work.

Could you share your tsukemono recipe? I just discovered how much I like daikon.

Theo166

Theo166 wrote: »

888sisters_weight888 wrote: »

For having enjoyed some varieties of homemade kimchi, I can only recommend one of my sister's go-to with Korean Favourites: https://www.maangchi.com/recipes/kimchi
ETA typo

I just made a batch of the radish kimchi following her instruction. Super easy following her instructions, after I stocked up on the right ingredients from a local Asian Grocery. Took forever to find the Korean Chili powder on the shelves
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kkakdugi

Not my image, but looks darn close to what I ended up with.

Success!
I only let it ferment at room temp for two days but it's still quite good, I couldn't wait any longer
Now I'll see how it evolves in the fridge.

Theo166

Success with radish kimchi! I only let it ferment at room temp for two days but it's still quite good, I couldn't wait any longer Now I'll see how it evolves in the fridge.

Threw out the cabbage kimchi, it had overtones of mold.

Theo166 wrote: »

888sisters_weight888 wrote: »

For having enjoyed some varieties of homemade kimchi, I can only recommend one of my sister's go-to with Korean Favourites: https://www.maangchi.com/recipes/kimchi
ETA typo

I just made a batch of the radish kimchi following her instruction. Super easy following her instructions, after I stocked up on the right ingredients from a local Asian Grocery. Took forever to find the Korean Chili powder on the shelves
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kkakdugi

Not my image, but looks darn close to what I ended up with.

SiegfriedXXL

I've been using Maangchi's recipes for years. I make many types of kimchi to have on hand. She's wonderful and her recipes work well.

Birdygirl15

I have to thank you for the links to Michelle Obama's kimchi recipe and this one
http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-easy-kimchi-at-home-189390

I amalgamated ideas from both and have just opened my first jar of what passes for kimchi. It is delicious!!

I couldn't get daikon radish ( I live in a small coastal town on the English south coast, lucky to get coriander/cilantro down here ) nor Korean pepper, but will order some online for the next batch. So I used garden radishes, fresh chilli and chilli paste but the majority of my veg was green cabbage.

So yummy! Thanks again, folks and to the OP for starting this thread.

JetJaguar

We make our own kimchi all the time. Coincidentally, I just put up two jars of kimchi today, two cabbages worth. My wife is from China and her grandmother used to make it. I took a look at Michelle Obama's recipe and the recipe from thekitchn.com, and the way we make it is somewhere in between, maybe a bit closer to the latter.

Birdygirl15

Second batch of kimchi underway - loving this stuff! Still haven't got my hands on proper Korean pepper, I need to order online, but did wonder what it actually tastes like. Would ordinary hot chillies, fresh or dried with some smoked paprika be a good substitute? I'm just using some fresh mild-ish chillies plus some chilli paste to add colour and it tastes good to me.

Also, could I ask those of you in the US and buy kimchi from a store, what might be a good entry on the MFP database I could use as a reasonably accurate entry? I've just been told I have high blood pressure, and I'm preparing myself for being told to watch my salt intake when my blood tests are back. There are so many kimchi entries, many of them with no sodium recorded, I am lost. The only one with a green tick is "Chongga - Mat Kimchi". Any advice? I could try and estimate my own version, but so much of the salt is rinsed away or left in the juices, it is hard to know what to do.

Thanks in advance.

rileysowner

Birdygirl15 wrote: »

Second batch of kimchi underway - loving this stuff! Still haven't got my hands on proper Korean pepper, I need to order online, but did wonder what it actually tastes like. Would ordinary hot chillies, fresh or dried with some smoked paprika be a good substitute? I'm just using some fresh mild-ish chillies plus some chilli paste to add colour and it tastes good to me.

Also, could I ask those of you in the US and buy kimchi from a store, what might be a good entry on the MFP database I could use as a reasonably accurate entry? I've just been told I have high blood pressure, and I'm preparing myself for being told to watch my salt intake when my blood tests are back. There are so many kimchi entries, many of them with no sodium recorded, I am lost. The only one with a green tick is "Chongga - Mat Kimchi". Any advice? I could try and estimate my own version, but so much of the salt is rinsed away or left in the juices, it is hard to know what to do.

Thanks in advance.

Why not just put your ingredients in the recipe maker here and use that for your calories. Just weight the whole batch when done and make the number of serving equal to the total number of grams. Thus you have a 1 gram serving. Weigh the amount of Kimchi you are eating, and enter the grams as the number of serving.

Birdygirl15

Thank you, @rileysowner. Apologies, I didn't express myself well. I was trying to find a close match for sodium between a commercially made and homemade kimchi, not calories. A lot of the salt in a recipe is rinsed away during the process, so it is difficult to work out for a homemade version. I was hoping someone who uses both commercial and homemade could tell me if a particular brand, where the sodium levels are available on the MFP database, is close to the taste of homemade. Hope that makes sense.

I will just have to guess for my homemade pickle, working out the calories is easy (when I remember to note down the weights of everything ). Kimchi is not available in shops near me, and there seems little point in ordering online when it is so easy and cheap to make. I'll go with the one entry on the MFP database I found with a green tick against it for now.

dklibert

@Birdygirl15 Try searching for King's Kimchi. That is a brand I have bought. I saw a couple of entries for it in the data base.

Theo166

Boy that's a tough question since there seems a wide variation in how people manage their salt in all the recipes I looked at.