Kim Chee is one of my favorite asian dishes. The origins of Kim Chee is like most preserved vegetables, a way to save the harvest for winter when there will be no vegetables.
The preparation of Kim Chee is very similar to Sauerkraut except the addition of ginger, garlic and chiles, but the goal is the same.
I am sure that I tried Kim Chee with my parents for the first time and probably hated it. It is an acquired taste.
I really turned on to Kim Chee when I was working with Hassan Baharin at Temasek, a little fusion restaurant in San Francisco's Richmond District in the late 80's. I wrote about Hassan in my post about rice. Here is a link to that blog: http://tastelikechicken-whatsmikecooking.blogspot.com/2012/02/perfect-rice-and-memory.html
I learned about a great deal of asian cooking from Hassan. He really liked spicy stuff. Hassan put chilies into most of the things he ate. His personal food was WAY too hot for the general public. I could not keep up with Hassan on the spicy stuff. I had grown up in Phoenix and thought that I knew spicy - burning mouth, itchy ears and sweats etc.
Hassan's spicy food was different. He used some readily available asian chili sauces to augment the restaurants food to suit his palate. He would take one of our dishes that had a little zing and make it explode with the addition of our house made red curry or one of his many bottles of prepared chili sauces.
My favorites were Siracha and Tuong ot Toi Viet Nam, both readily available in your local grocery store in the asian section or better yet, in your local asian market (if you have one).
The day Hassan opened a jar of Kim Chee, my life changed, food wise that is.
Maybe it was the maturation of my palate, maybe it was that I needed a different flavor. I don't know. But that day I became a fan of Kim Chee.
So on to Kim Chee.
Traditionally, Koreans would prepare their Kim Chee, place it into earthenware containers and burry it until needed. Since I have a dog, I used a more modern method.
I have wanted to make Kim Chee for many years, but for one reason or another I had not. Until today.
I did a little research on what sort of flavors that I was looking for by eating about a dozen different brands and variations on the dish. There seem to be an endless variety available, some local, some domestic, some imported.
Once I had made my decision, I researched recipes in order to write mine.
Here is my recipe:
2 large heads of napa cabbage
1 head of garlic (peeled and roughly chopped)
6.5 oz fresh ginger (peeled and roughly chopped)
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 T kosher salt
4 oz Tuong Ot Toi Vietnam (by weight) this is a Vietnamese chili/garlic sauce
1 T fish sauce
2 ea chipotle peppers (mine are homemade, you can use the canned variety if you don't make your own)
1/4 C kosher salt
Here is the method:
Cut the cabbage into 2" X 2" squares.
Remember this recipe is intended to be eaten with chop sticks so don't cut it too small. I also cut out the core of the cabbage, but if you would like to keep it in, go ahead.
Place the cabbage into a large bowl with the 1/4 C kosher salt and warm water (not hot) to just cover the cabbage. Let it sit for about 30 minutes.
While the cabbage is soaking, put the ginger, garlic, 1 tsp kosher salt, sugar, fish sauce, chipotles and the chili sauce into a food processor and let it run until you have a paste.
This paste is what will give the Kim Chi its' flavor.
Drain the cabbage very well. It should have wilted a bit by now.
Next, combine the now wilted and dry (mostly) cabbage a little at a time in your large bowl
and transfer into a earthenware crock. A one gallon jar will work just as well if you don't have a crock like mine.
Continue until all of the cabbage has been transferred. I had about a cup left over when I put my last few handfuls of cabbage into the bowl, so I added it all to that last batch.
I the mixed the all of the cabbage again to evenly mix the flavoring mixture throughout the Kim Chee.
The last step is to weight down the Kim Chi with whatever you have that will work. I used a salad plate that I sterilized before placing it on the cabbage.
Put the container, lightly covered, in a cool place. Do not refrigerate the mixture yet, it needs to ferment.
Leave it at room temp for one week and transfer to jars and refrigerate.
This will last in your refrigerator for at least 6 months.
As I tried the Kim Chee after the requisite seven day fermentation period, I was thrilled. Exactly like I had hoped!
Enjoy! This recipe is fantastic. Crunchy, spicy, and a little bit salty/sour.
