The ingredients are prepared in advance by my mother-in-law. She pickles garlic and ginger and mixes with small slaty shrimp and sea salt for the main napa cabbage kimchi.
Last year a box of cabbage was about 20 dollars and this year it is about 40 dollars. Even though it was more expensive the cabbages were smaller this year and many stores had no napa cabbages for sell at all.
The reason was the long hot summer burned up the original napa cabbage crop. These cabbages that were harvested we planted in the early autumn and just harvested or they were imported from cooler regions in the world.
After making the napa cabbage kimchi, we ferment it to get a better flavor and allow the natural probiotics to form in the kimchi. In the meantime we eat a fresh kimchi called geotjeori (겉절이) that is not fermented. For many this fresh kimchi tastes best with boiled pork.
In the fresh kimchi we add everything to taste including fresh oysters and sliced Korean pears. A paste is made from glutenous rice to stick everything together. We mix it with a few heads of cabbage and can eat this kimchi right away. We made so much that I had to share it with my coworkers at work. While the fermented kimchi will last almost a year, this fresh kimchi has to be eaten in a few weeks.
Kimchi making is hard work, but a fun family tradition that I hope doesn't die out with the older generation.
Ingredients:
1 pound napa cabbage leaves, core removed
1 tablespoon sea salt
3 tablespoons fermented salty shrimp and the liquid that goes with them.
1 cup water
2 teaspoons glutinous rice flour (the kind you make ddeuk from)
1½ teaspoons sugar
⅓ cup Korean hot pepper flakes
2 tablespoons of raw oysters
3 garlic cloves
½ teaspoon ginger
¼ cup onion
2 green onions, sliced diagonally
½ cup of sliced Korean pears
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
How to make it:
Cut cabbage leaves into strips.
Add ½ cup water and sprinkle the salt.
Mix it in well with your hands.
Salt for 30 minutes and toss every 10 minutes.
Mix the other ingredients into a kimchi paste. Mix well with the cabbage and finally add the sesame seeds for presentation.
This is a simple fresh kimchi recipe from what I can recall. My mother-in-law is the expert. I just watch her and lend a hand. It seems that the secret ingredient is love.
love,
The pictures used here are all my own pictures I took last weekend. I hope some of the spice and prep jumps out.
