Napa Cabbage Kimchi

At last, I mastered the art of making napa cabbage kimchi!  Or something like that.  For years, I've tried to make my own kimchi at home and it always turned out mediocre.  Then I finally found a recipe that sounds close to the real deal and I tried making it.  I was really happy with the results.  Now I'll never have to buy expensive kimchi and I can make extra to share with family and friends!

This recipe uses the whole cabbage fermenting method.  I wanted to make it easier to serve and mix with the kimchi paste so I cut the cabbage into bite-sized pieces before brining it.  I skipped the first five steps and followed the instructions from her Easy Napa Cabbage Kimchi recipe instead.

Napa Cabbage Kimchi
From Aeri's Kitchen

Main Ingredients:
1 large napa cabbage (4 lb)
2 cups Korean radish
1 cup garlic chives
5 green onions
3/4 onion
2 hot peppers

Brine Ingredients:
10 cups Water
½ cup coarse sea salt (for salt water)
⅔ cup coarse sea salt (for sprinkling)

Sauce Ingredients:
2 cups water + (3 T water and 3 T sweet rice flour)
¼ sweet apple + ¼ onion
1¼ cup coarse red pepper powder
1 - 2 T sugar
¼ - ⅓ cup fish sauce
3 T garlic, minced
½ T ginger, minced
½ T salt
2 T sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Remove any bad parts from the napa cabbage.
2. Divide the napa cabbage into 4 pieces. 
3. In a huge bowl, combine 10 cups of water and ½ cup coarse sea salt to make salt water. Stir until the salt is dissolved.
4. Prepare ⅔ cup coarse sea salt. Divide the salt evenly for 4 pieces of cabbage. Sprinkle the salt inside each leaf. Put more salt on the thicker parts than the thinner parts. This step is important to make kimchi. The right amount of salt and time to marinate the cabbage will change the results of your kimchi.
5. Dip the cabbage in the salt water. Put something heavy (like a big pan full of water) on top of the cabbage to keep them under the brine. That will help the cabbage to get salted better. Leave it for 4 to 5 hours until the cabbage leaves become a little soft.
6. Rinse the salted cabbage twice in water.
7. Drain the water, and set it aside for about 2 hours until more of the water drips out or you can squeeze the water out.
8. Mix 3 T of sweet rice flour and 3 T of water.
9. In a pan add the mixture and 2 cups of water. Boil it until it makes bubbles on medium. Keep stirring it so that it will not stick to the bottom.
10. Cut the radish very thinly into 2-inch lengths.
11. Cut 5 green onions the same length as the radish.
12. Cut the garlic chives into 1½-inch pieces.
13. Cut 2 hot peppers thinly and slice ¾ of an onion thinly.
14. Grind ¼ of an onion and ¼ of a sweet apple.
15. In a big bowl, add the rice flour mixture, 1¼ cup of red pepper powder, and 2 cups of radish. Mix everything together.
16. Add the rest of the ingredients: chopped onion, hot peppers, garlic chives, green onion, onion & apple mixture, 1-2 T sugar, ¼ - ⅓ cups fish sauce, 3 T minced garlic, ½ T minced ginger, and 2 T sesame seeds. Mix all of the ingredients well. Taste it and adjust taste, adding more salt if needed.
17. Spread some of the mixture into each leaf of the cabbage. Make sure all of the surfaces get covered in the sauce.
18. Put the kimchi in a glass jar or container. Keep the kimchi at room temperature for about a day, then put it in the refrigerator. It will take several days to a week until it is properly fermented depending on your refrigerator’s temperature.

Eat your kimchi with rice or as a side.  I made kimchi fried rice because it's so easy and simple to make.  All you need is chopped kimchi, overnight rice, green onions, kochujang, sesame oil, and a fried egg.  Sometimes I like to add spam to my kimchi fried rice.  So ono!

Doenjang Jjigae (Bean Paste Stew)

I've recently been making bean paste stew for dinner because of the cold winter nights.  I never get sick and tired of this comforting Korean dish.   Soondubu jjigae (soft tofu stew) is another one of my favorite but I'll get to that on a separate post.  You can buy doenjang or soy bean paste, which is used as the base, at any Korean markets.

The recipe I used was adapted from several websites.  Sometimes I add dried anchovies but without it is plenty flavorful too.  I cooked the stew in a ceramic pot and served it boiling hot with a bowl of white rice.  Perfect the meal with a variety of side dishes (banchan) to accompany it.

Doenjang Jjigae

2 T soy bean paste (doenjang)
sesame oil

5 cloves of garlic, minced

7-8 pieces of dried anchovies (optional)

1 chili pepper, chopped

1/2 onion, roughly sliced
1 medium potato, peeled and cut into cubes
1/2 zucchini,  cut into chunks
mushrooms, halved
1/2 block tofu (firm or soft), cut into cubes
1 green onion, chopped
gochugaru (optional)

1.  Prepare the vegetables and tofu.  If using anchovies, remove heads and intestines, then chop them up.
2.  Heat up sesame oil in ceramic pot and add garlic and soy bean paste to toast slightly about 30 seconds.
4.  Add water to fill pot almost halfway, then add anchovies, chili, onions and potatoes.  Let cook for a few minutes.
5.  Add zucchini and mushrooms and let it cook until the potato is almost tender. Stir occasionally.
6.  When the stew is boiling and all the ingredients are about cooked, mix in the tofu and top with chopped green onions.
7.  Sprinkle some gochugaru (red pepper flakes) over the stew and serve hot with a bowl of rice.  Enjoy!

Serves 3-4.

Bibimbap

Bimbimbap is a Korean rice dish mixed with vegetables and gochujang.  The banchan takes a lot of work to prep but the dish is super easy to make!  You can save a lot of time from cooking the veggies if you already have a lot of leftover banchan in the fridge.  This dish is typically mixed with seasoned stir-fry meat like beef or pork and sunny side egg on top of the veggies.  Below is an adapted recipe from "The Korean Table". 

BIBIMBAP (literally means "mixed rice") - serves 2

Short grain rice

Eggs

Beef rib eye or ground beef

Soybean sprouts

Carrots

Cucumbers

Spinach

Sesame oil

Sesame seeds

Soy sauce

Green onions

Gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)

Sea salt

Brown sugar

Honey

Rice vinegar

Directions:

1. Cook rice in the rice cooker and prepare veggies according to the recipes below. 
2. Prepare eggs sunny-side up right before assembling.
3. To assemble, scoop rice into big individual serving bowls and artfully arrange each of the seasoned veggies on top of the rice.  Please beef in the center.  Set one fried egg in the center on top of the beef.  Add a dollop of gochujang sauce.  Drizzle a bit of sesame oil (optional).  Mix well and dig in!

SEASONED VEGETABLES:

Bean Sprouts 
1 tsp sea salt
1 lb. soybean sprouts
4 T chopped green onions
1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
1 T sesame oil

In a medium saucepan with lid, combine water, salt, and bean sprouts.  Bring to a boil, reduce to low heat, cover with lid, and steam the sprouts for 5 minutes. Strain the sprouts and transfer to mixing bowl. Mix sprouts with green onions, sesame seeds and sesame oil.

Carrots
4 medium size carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch matchstick strips
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 T sesame oil

In a medium size skillet, heat the sesame oil on medium heat.  Add the carrots and salt and stir-fry for 2 minutes.

Spicy Cucumber Salad
1/2 English cucumber, sliced in 1/4 inch rounds or cut into matchsticks
1 tsp gochujang
1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
salt

In a large bowl, toss cucumbers and pinch of salt.  Set aside for 5 minutes.  Gently squeeze liquid from the cucumbers and transfer to bowl.  Combine gochujang and cucumbers. Sprinkle on the sesame seeds.

Spinach Salad
1 lb. spinach, washed
1 T toasted sesame seeds
2 T sesame oil
1 tsp sea salt

Bring a large pot of water to boil and add spinach.  Cook for 1 minute.  Strain the spinach and rinse with cold water.  Take one handful of spinach at a time and squeeze the water from the spinach.  Cut spinach into 2-inch pieces on a cutting board.  Transfer to a bowl and add sesame seeds, sesame oil, and salt. Mix well.

SEASONED BEEF
1/4 lb. rib eye cut into strips
1 T soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp brown sugar

In a small bowl, mix together the beef, soy sauce, sesame oil and brown sugar.  Marinate for 15 minutes. Heat a small skillet and stir-fry until cooked. Set aside.

GOCHUJANG SAUCE
2 T Korean red pepper paste (gochujang)
1 T rice vinegar
1 tsp honey
1 T water
2 tsp sesame oil

Combine ingredients in a bowl and whisk together.

Jajangmyun (Korean Black Bean Paste Noodles)

I had a hankering for noodles and Korean food last night so I made jajangmyun and dukboki (spicy rice cakes) for dinner. According to wikipedia, jajangmyun is a popular Korean noodle dish that originated from the Chinese zha jiang mien. The sauce of the jajangmyun is made with black bean paste called chunjang, which can be purchased at any Korean market, and usually stir fried with ground meat and diced vegetables. The sauce is served hot on top of Korean wheat noodles. The first time I had jajangmyun was from Nong Shim - yes, instant!


Now I make my own at home. It is very easy and effortless to make this dish. I don't remember where I got the original recipe but here is my adaptation.

JaJangmyun (Korean Black Bean Paste Noodles)
Serves 4

1 package Korean noodles (or thin udon)

vegetable oil
4 T chunjang (Korean black bean paste)
1/4 lb. ground pork
1 medium onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 T garlic, minced
1 T ginger, minced
2 tsp sugar
1 cup water

1 T cornstarch
2 T water

cucumber, shredded
green onions, chopped

1. Heat a small skillet with 2 T oil and stir fry jajang over medium high heat for about 1-2 minutes, drain extra oil and set aside
2. Boil water in a large pot and cook noodles according to the package for a few minutes, then drain and rinse in cold water so the noodles do not stick (you may have to reheat noodles to eat hot later).
3. Heat 1/2 T oil in wok or large skillet and stir fry garlic and ginger until fragrant. Stir in ground pork and keep cooking until almost cooked.
4. Add diced onions and carrots until everything is cooked. Stir in jajang, 1 cup of water, and sugar. Keep cooking until water boils vigorously.
5. Mix cornstarch with water and slowly stir into the sauce until the mixture becomes a thick and heavy consistency.
6. In a bowl, place cooked noodles and pour jajang mixture over and garnish with cucumbers and green onions.