You can hardly swing a sustainable, line-caught snapper without hitting a bowl full of kimchi these days. The once-exotic fermented Korean staple can now be found everywhere from convenient, sealed packages in most area supermarkets to 50-pound tubs of the stuff being made in-house by chef Keith Rhodes at Catch Restaurant.
The long-overdue popularity of Korean cuisine has found the spicy-sweet flavors pop up in numerous atypical locations, perhaps most famously stuffed into tacos by food truck pioneer Roy Choi of Kogi Korean BBQ in Los Angeles. And if an examination of Lauryn Chun’s “The Kimchi Cookbook” is any indicator, this is one culinary trend that isn’t going to vanish any time soon.
Over the course of 150 pages, Chun ferments cabbage, cucumbers, radishes, apples and other wide-ranging ingredients into zesty preserves. Many of those preparations are intended to be eaten straight, but she dedicates plenty of space to applying the resultant pickles to lively recipes including the iconic stew Kimchi Chigae (often spelled jjigae) and a variation on oysters mignonette that uses kimchi juice for a piquant condiment.
Chun’s book has helped me settle into a recipe that’s become quite popular around the house in a dozen or so batches that vanish surprisingly rapidly. If you’ve made sauerkraut, the process isn’t much different. And the results come about much quicker, normally within five days.
If you’d like to try making your own at home, you’ll need a container large enough to hold the bubbling vegetation. I’m a big fan of the six-quart Cambro tubs (be sure to buy a lid as well) that can be found locally at restaurant supply stores or online for a few dollars, but a fairly huge plastic or glass bowl and good plastic wrap could work in a pinch.
All of the ingredients for any of Chun’s recipes can be found at Saigon Market, most importantly the distinctive flakes of red pepper called “gochugaru,” a mildly spicy but fully flavored variety redolent of Hungarian paprika. I like to use both coarse and finely ground versions in my recipe, but feel free to omit the finely ground if you don’t want two big bags of pepper taking up precious pantry space.
Napa Cabbage Kimchi
1 large head Napa cabbage, quartered, cored and cut into squares
4 large carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally into thin ovals
1/4 cup kosher salt
6 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
3-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup finely ground Korean chili powder
1/2 cup coarse ground Korean chili flakes
Combine cut cabbage, carrots and salt with one cup of water in large plastic tub, tossing to coat evenly. Toss several times over the next few hours. The cabbage will release much of its water in this time, and when it’s reduced to about half of the original volume, strain and rinse the vegetables well.
Return the rinsed cabbage and carrots to the tub, and mix in remaining ingredients until evenly coated.
Cover and allow kimchi to sit at room temperature, tossing daily until well fermented. Don’t be alarmed by the aroma if you’ve never fermented vegetables before, it won’t smell pretty at first.
You’ll likely notice some bubbling within three days, but the flavor continues to develop beyond that. If you open the tub and it sounds like fizzy soda, give it a taste. When ready, about five days, it should have a pleasingly sour flavor. Pack into jars and refrigerate to stop the bubbling. Try to use within three weeks, but it probably won’t kill you if it takes longer than that to finish it off.