Hybrid Kimchi Recipe

I love the taste of homemade kimchi, but it can be quite time consuming, mostly from the first part - salting the cabbage, which using the Maangchi recipe, takes hours. While on a flight, I watched a Masterclass episode about fermented foods and the chef, David Zilber, did a very quick kimchi using a 2% ratio of veggies to kosher salt. I tried his recipe, but didn't care for the flavor, so I combined his salting technique with Maangchi's general recipe (with some adjustment, mostly removing ingredients I don't care for) and it worked out great.

I gave some to my friend's mom and she asked for the recipe, so I just went through the whole process of writing it up for her, so figured I would post it here for anyone who is looking for a quicker way to make kimchi that will definitely taste better than store bought.

Email to my friend's mom:

The main recipe is from Maangchi, my favorite Korean chef. Here's a link with a video showing generally how to make it. The biggest modification I've made is in the first part of the process - the salting of the cabbage. Her recipe calls for 6 lbs of cabbage, but that's a lot of kimchi, probably too much for most people, so I halved it.

---------------

Modified Kimchi Recipe (half recipe)

Veggie Ingredients

• 1 head napa cabbage (roughly 3 lbs, but any size is fine)
• Kosher salt (roughly 1/4 cup, but you will weigh on a scale)
• 1 cup Korean radish (mu) or daikon radish
• 1/2 cup carrot matchsticks
• 3-4 green onions (scallions), chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped Asian chives, or add 2 more green onions

Porridge Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1 Tbsp sweet rice flour (aka glutinous rice flour)
• 1 Tbsp turbinado sugar (or brown or white sugar)

Seasonings and spices

• 12 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1/2 medium onion
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 1 cup red pepper flakes (gochugaru 고추가루, coarse bigger flakes, not a fine powder). I usually look for one that is sundried.

Steps:

Start by making porridge first because it needs to cool down:

1. Combine the water and the sweet rice flour in a pot that looks bigger than you'd need because this will usually bubble up. Mix well with a wooden spoon and let it cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes until it starts to bubble.
   
2. Add the sugar and cook for 1 more minute, stirring. Remove from the heat and let it cool off completely.

Prepping spices

1. I usually put the garlic, ginger, and onion into a food processor and run it until it's very minced. This is easier than chopping everything by hand. It's almost like a paste consistency.
2. Put minced spices into a big bowl that you will later use to mix up the whole thing, so a big bowl.
   
3. Add fish sauce and red pepper flakes.

Prepping veggies

1. Slice the napa cabbage into quarters lengthwise, then proceed to chop those quarters into 3 cm wide strips. Remove the cores.
2. Place your large mixing bowl with the spice mixture on a scale and tare it to zero grams.
3. Transfer all the chopped cabbage to the mixing bowl.
4. Add the cut radish, matchstick carrots, and green onions to the bowl.
5. Note the weight (in grams is easiest) and calculate 2 percent of that weight in salt. Add the salt to the bowl, and proceed to mix everything together thoroughly until all the ingredients have been moistened and well mixed.
6. Put mixed well kimchi into a container and if possible, put a weight on top to keep cabbage submerged. If you don't have something for this, you can use a ziploc filled with water.

Notes on fermentation (copied from Maangchi's website)

The kimchi will start fermenting a day or two at room temperature, depending on the temperature and humidity of your room. The warmer and more humid it is, the faster the kimchi will ferment. Once it starts to ferment it will smell and taste sour, and pressing on the top of the kimchi with a spoon will release bubbles from beneath. If you’re using a sealed jar with a lid, be sure to open it once a while, let it breathe, and press down on the top of the kimchi.

Once it starts to fermented, store in the refrigerator to use as needed. This slows down the fermentation process, which will make the kimchi more and more sour as time goes on.

----------------

That's it! If it ends up being too much, my favorite other things to make with kimchi are kimchi-jjigae (shortcut here is buying anchovy broth bags or tablets so you can skip making the anchovy broth), kimchi pancakes, and kimchi fried rice.

 

Cranberry Side Dishes

I have two cranberry dishes that I make every year for Thanksgiving. The thing I love about both of these recipes is that they can be made a day or two in advance, so I usually make them Tuesday or Wednesday night so they're ready to go on Thanksgiving. I found both of these recipes in a Martha Stewart Living magazine (the one with the chocolate turkey on the cover I believe).

I usually make Martha's Cranberry Orange Sauce which is basically just taking 3 cups of fresh cranberries (12 oz.) and cooking them in a pan with 1 cup of sugar over medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves and the cranberries begin to pop (about 7 minutes). Then add 1 cup of water and simmer until slightly thickened (about 4 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in whole segments of 2 satsuma mandarin oranges. Let it cool!

The other one is a recipe for Cranberry Orange Relish. I modified it to my tastes and ever since the first year I made it, it has become a staple at my Thanksgiving table. When I saw it, the first ingredient that really piqued my interest was the jalopeno! I love spicy food and I don't think I had ever eaten a real cranberry, so I just decided to go for it.

Here's the original recipe and I just put all the stuff I omit at the bottom of the ingredients list and marked them as (omit).

Cranberry Orange Relish

Cranberry Orange Relish

Makes 2 cups
This is an easy addition to the Thanksgiving menu since it doesn't require any cooking.

2 cups fresh or defrosted frozen cranberries
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 large jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 blood oranges or navel oranges, peeled, sectioned, and cut into 1/4-inch pieces, juices reserved
2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger (omit)
1/2 cup sugar
2 stalks celery, peeled to remove strings, cut in 1/4-inch dice
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, coarsely chopped (omit)
1/4 cup pecans, toasted, broken in pieces (omit)

1. Place cranberries in food processor, and pulse to chop coarsely, about five pulses. Transfer to a medium bowl.

2. Add onion, jalapeño, lime juice, orange sections and juice, ginger, sugar, and celery; mix gently. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days. Just before serving, add mint and pecans, and toss to combine.

Here's a picture of the ingredients before mixing it up:

Cranberry Orange Relish - "Before" picture

Garlic and Ham Spaghetti

I had a New Year's Eve party and for the occasion, I purchased a Honey Baked Ham. It was delicious, but after eating ham with leftover mashed potatoes for a few days, it starts to get old!

So, I made Garlic and Ham Spaghetti that I found on AllRecipes a couple years ago. I had only made it once before, but remember liking it, so I gave it another go. It was really tasty! Here's a picture of the finished product:

Garlic and Ham Spaghetti

The original recipe called for mushrooms and olives, both of which I am not crazy about, so I omitted them. Here is the original recipe:

Garlic and Ham Spaghetti

INGREDIENTS:
8 ounces spaghetti
5 tablespoons butter
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
16 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 (16 ounce) package frozen chopped broccoli
1 (6 ounce) can black olives, drained
12 slices ham, chopped

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DIRECTIONS:
1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add spaghetti and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain and set aside.

2. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter and add garlic, onion, mushrooms, broccoli, olives, and ham. Saute mixture until onions are translucent.

3. In a large bowl toss cooked spaghetti with vegetable mixture.