Kimchee My Heart

Dear Joanne,

I'm sorry for holding this recipe ransom. I knew you wanted it so badly that I could get whatever I wanted.

I want this blog to live forever.

I'm so glad I got to spend Saturday with you!

We danced in your kitchen, picked out vegetables at the grocery store, collaborated on a vegan cake, ate ALL THE GARLIC and guzzled delicious fudge sauce. And that was before the party.

 My breath still smells like garlic. I totally took one of the cloves we baked to eat for myself and then ate it all in one sitting.

Norm <3 Grouper

I ate Norm with butter and roasted garlic.

How great is it that we still get together every summer? It's my favorite tradition. I hope it never ends. Think of how many things we've been through in all these years!

I associate kimchee with all sorts of happy. It is a huge part of my life and family. I don't remember a time in my life when we didn't have a jar of it in the fridge. I was making a batch at home, and my mom told me that when my grandma was young, she worked for a Korean guy in Pohnpei making kimchee.  Whenever we make it, my mom and I make a point of setting some aside just for my grandma, otherwise she won't get any before my cousins eat the whole jar.

SAFETY PSA

I don't care how many times you wash your hands, DO NOT change contact lenses or feminine products for a few hours after making kimchee with your bare hands. And should you make that mistake, do not tell all of your friends about it.

Kimchee

1 head napa cabbage

1/4c sugar

1/4c salt (maybe more, depending)

3/4c korean red pepper flakes

1 large cucumber

1c green onion

1/4c ginger, minced

6-10 cloves garlic, minced

Courtesy Jason's instagram

Step 1: Cut napa cabbage into bite-size pieces about 2X2 inches. Wash multiple times to remove sand. Cut cucumber and radish (optional, plus whatever vegetables you want to add to the mix. Radish? jicama? parsnips? I am not the kimchee police. You use the veggies in that CSA box, you great person, you.) I salt everything because salt is a preserver and I'm not adding a fermented food like fish sauce, so I just feel better about it overall.

Put all of these into a bowl, fill the bowl with water, add 1/4c salt, and let it sit for 15+ minutes

While the veggies soak, mix green onion, garlic, sugar, onion and chili paste. This mix will be a little dry, but the soaking veggies are wet, so whatevs. 

Remove veggies from salt water in whatever way you wish. Strain? Another bowl? Do you, you great person, you.

Add chili mixture to the cabbage mixture. Add more salt if it needs salt (taste both a thick vegetable like a cucumber and a thin napa cabbage leaf. If the thick vegetable isn't salty enough but the thin leaf is too salty, you have a perfect balance. The salt will spread out uniformly eventually.)  Keep stirring until everything looks red and delicious. Put into a non-reactive container, preferably glass (RED PEPPER FLAKES STAIN. YOU CAN'T WASH IT OUT.) Let sit out for a day or two, then put into the fridge. Or just put it in the fridge. Whatever makes you happy.

Enjoy your kimchee.

Dear Joanne,

I have a killer pesto recipe that I'm holding for ransom, as well. 

Love you,

Shelly