kimchi

so, i really love pickles and i really love spicy things, so, i pretty much think kimchi is the perfect food. my good friend mina told me once that i eat more kimchi than any girl she's ever seen. i like to think that was a complement! anyway, i buy it in jars at the asian markets, but it's expensive (about $2.99 for less than a pint) and it goes pretty fast. i've kind of always wanted to try making it at home, but i was a little intimidated. i was afraid that i'd basically be making homemade, spicy botulism. so, imagine my glee when i ran across kitchen wench's kimchi how-to on her blog. it was a family recipe (read: authentic) and the process was so well explained, it actually looked do-able! i couldn't wait to give it a try. so, off i went to k-town and the han kook market where i tried to find the smallest sack of chili powder they sold (i still have enough for three more batches) and all of the other ingredients (plus about 50 bucks of other korean favorites like laver seaweed, green tea noodles, pickled radish, bulgogi marinade and my favorite korean soda, milkis).

i followed kitchen wench's instructions to the letter; i wasn't leaving anything to chance. the only thing i did differently was to slice up the cabbage before i added the chili mixture at the end, as i didn't want to have to slice up messy giant kimchi leaves later. this is definitely a process, with a lot of waiting while things wilt, ferment, etc., but it's worth it. here's the kimchi jar after fermentation and a few days in the fridge...



and here's the final product:



it tastes soooo yummy! thanks, kitchen wench and kitchen wench's mom for sharing your recipe for kimchi lovin' pae-gin around the world to try. i will never run out of kimchi again!