As Korean as it gets...

I had little to do with anything korean until some 8 or 9 years ago when they first aired a popular korean drama on TV. The rest is history. I am now a korean drama junkie! Gone are Hong Kong dramas from my routine, now only Korean guys get to fit into my tight schedule. I am even willing to sacrifice my sleep time to watch them online through my (sometimes pathetic) streamyx connection at home. My korean vocabulary has also expanded, e.g. Annyeong Haseyo, Sarang Aeyo, Bianeh, Kencana.... to list a few (ahemm..). I have tried learning to read korean and they have a very unique system. Really interesting but steam ran out...

My hubby never understands my obsession with Korean dramas, I think no men would. But one thing we do share is our liking for the most famous korean food that all korean drama junkies must know from all the episodes of korean dramas... the wonderfully spicy and sourish pickled vegetables, the one and only Kim Chi.... So we have tasted Kim Chi bought from supermarkets and they are extremely expensive. So we have been researching how to make own own kim chi and finally, last week, I rolled up my sleeves to try making it.

I got my recipe from here. Firstly, you need to soak your chinese cabbage (napa cabbage) with water and sea salt (2 table spoon) for 12 hours (overnight) in the fridge. Make sure all leaves are soaked in the salt water, weigh it down if you have to. Then, next morning, rinse the leave and shakes off access water, out them in a large bowl. Add in some minced garlic and ginger, more sea salt, some sugar and as much grounded dried chili powder as you like. To add more colour, I added shredded carrot and a few stalks of spring onions cut into strips. Mix them well in the big bowl, use gloves (I just bagged one hand in clean plastic bag). Pack them all into a glass container/jar, pour in any water from the bowl into the container. Make sure the water covers the vege, leave some space in the jar as there will be some gas being produced during the fermentation. Leave the jar on your kitchen counter (away from direct sunlight) for 2 days. After that you can keep it in your fridge and take portion to consume when you like. I tasted my own kimchi and I didn't have any upset tummy, so I am pretty happy. The taste is also pretty near to the ones we bought from the supermarkets. So I am confident that I can repeat this process with improved results next time too. This is how it looked like.