Kimchi

Made Mak (wombak) and oisobagi (cucumber) kimchi

Recipes from Maangchi:

Oisobagi kimchi

Mak kimchi

I had to improvise - couldn't find the Korean hot pepper flakes so used paprika. Gave it a smokey sweet flavour which I'm sure purists would yell at me for! Also, ran out of fish sauce so used just a bit of soya sauce for the salt.

Overall, given that I used about 1kg of wombak and 3 long cucumbers, the kimchi paste doesn't seem enough. I omitted the porridge, so I guess this is where the difference is. Next time (if there is a next time because this was uber tiring!) I will use original Korean ingredients!

Updated with photo on 28 Jan 15 with proper gochugaru. 1 wombak with 3 carrots and 2 pears makes 1.5 kg of kimchi.

Updated on 16 Dec 16: I came across another recipe from Kitchn which explains the kimchi making process from a foreigner's point of view. The thing about having a foreigner narrate is that she is able to explain things from a fresh pair of eyes compared to someone who is native and may have taken things for granted. 

- She doesn't use the 'porridge' that Maangchi does.

- Apparently putting in carrots are a no-no?

- I found out adding too much ginger makes it sticky but adding too much garlic makes the kimchi bitter. I've been experiencing the latter towards the end of the shelf life of my kimchi but could never explain! I've always attributed it to being over fermented.

- Salt matters! Use kosher rather than table or iodized because the latter 2 types have caking agents which may inhibit the salting process. I've noticed that my salted veg doesn't become pliable but snaps even after salting for 2 hours. Another recipe said to soak for 4 hours until the veg stems were bendy rather than snapped but who has time for that?

- Leaving space on top before capping it. I used to think that I should pack it tightly and to the brim to prevent air. One time I had kimchi juice just oozing out and out of my jars. Every day I would mop up the fridge (and it stank!) and next day, they'd be more. I didn't figure it out until much later when I realised that as it ferments, it creats gas so needs space to expand. So I shouldn't be packing it too tight!