Korean Cabbage - Kimchi

I was at a Korean restaurant a while ago and was served a delightful array of salad-looking appetizers with the soup I had ordered. My friend told me it was called kimchi. It was so delicious, I bought some from the store in the back of the restaurant.

The next thing I knew, my kimchi supply was gone. I had to do something, and because I enjoy trying to prepare new things, I thought I'd give kimchi a try. I found a recipe online to start with. The first batch was OK, but it was missing some things.

Over time, I started to figure out what was missing or what I had too much of. Aided by the palate of a Korean-American co-worker of mine (whose mom makes this stuff like it's going out of style), I believe I'm on my way to being accepted with open arms into Korean culture.

Now you can be too.

Ingredients

• 1 medium to large napa cabbage (about the size of a football)
• about 1/4 cup salt (and a bit extra for a brine)
  
• 1/4 cup red pepper flakes (NOT crushed red pepper powder)*
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp minced ginger
• about 5 green onions
• 1 tbsp fish sauce (totally optional)
• about 1/8 cup sugar

Directions

1. Chop the cabbage into pieces a bit larger than bite size. By the end, they will have shrunk. Use the whole thing. Place it all in a large bowl, with enough room to toss it.
2. Dissolve some salt in a bowl of warm water. Pour over the cabbage and toss so that everything gets wet. Let sit at room temperature for about four hours.
3. After your cabbage has reduced, wash it well.
4. Mix the red pepper flakes with about 1/4 cup warm water. It should be pasty, not runny. Add the paste to the cabbage.
5. Add the garlic, ginger, green onions, and sugar. The sugar helps the fermentation process. Your kimchi should not taste sweet in the end, so use some judgment on exactly how much sugar you use. If you’re using fish sauce, add it now too.
6. Toss the mixture. Hands work best, but be careful. If you’ve got plastic gloves, use them. I learned the hard way that even if I think your hands are clean, hours later it still could burn my eyes.
7. After it’s all mixed, bottle it up. I have a huge pickle jar I use, but several smaller ones will suffice. You should get a pretty substantial amount of kimchi out of this recipe. Close them up well and leave them out at room temperature for 24 hours to ferment.

You can enjoy your kimchi right away, but it will definitely taste better if you wait a week. By two weeks, you'll be eating it at every meal because you won't be able to get enough of it.

Come on back after a while and let me know how you liked it!