Saturday, August 13, 2011
How to Make Kim Chi
Posted By Dr. Ben Kim Healthy Eating Resources Healthy Meals
Of the countless varieties of kim chi that are made in Korea, by far the most common and celebrated version is made with Napa cabbage.
Kim chi that's made with cabbage is loaded with indole-3-carbinol (I3C), a compound that is well recognized as a powerful cancer-fighting compound. Numerous studies indicate that I3C can offer protection against many different types of cancer and may even stop the growth of existing tumors.
You could hop on over to a local Korean market to buy a bottle of kim chi, but it may not be as healthy as you'd like, since most commercially prepared varieties are made with white sugar and shrimp.
To make healthy kim chi that still has lots of flavor and health-promoting compounds, start with a whole head of fresh Napa cabbage:
Separate the leaves and chop them up into bite-size pieces. These shreds of cabbage will shrink about 25% during processing, so no need to make them too small. And no need to clean them yet, as we'll be giving them a good rinse in a bit.
Measure out a quarter cup of sea salt.
And add it to a small bowl of warm water.
Give it a gentle stir until the salt is dissolved.
Now add the salt water to the cabbage and give the cabbage a light toss to distribute the salt water.
Now a bit of waiting time. The salted cabbage needs to sit at room temperature for about four hours. The salt will help draw moisture out of the cabbage, and will also act as a natural preservative.
Here's what the cabbage should look like after about four hours:
If you look closely, you'll see a small pool of salt brine at the bottom of the bowl.
Now grease up your elbows and wash and strain the cabbage two or three times. You want to rinse off the salt water and return the cabbage to a large bowl.
Congratulations - this is the base for your kim chi.
Measure out a quarter cup of ko choo kah rhoo, also known as fine red chili flakes/powder. If you don't have easy access to a local Korean grocery store, you can order ko choo kah rhoo from the following site:
Crushed red pepper flakes
Add a quarter cup of warm water and mix with a spoon until the chili powder/flakes turn into a bit of a paste.
Transfer the red pepper paste to the cabbage.
Plus a tablespoon of minced garlic.
And a tablespoon of finely chopped/minced ginger.
Three to four green onions, sliced.
Two tablespoons of anchovy sauce or fish sauce. If you prefer a vegetarian version, you can skip this step.
And now for the secret ingredient that sets this kim chi apart from most commercially prepared varieties: a concoction of half a ripe apple, half a ripe pear, and half a yellow onion, all blended up with one cup of water.
This apple/pear/onion blend adds a hint of natural sweetness to the kim chi - most commercial varieties simply add a cup of sugar.
Now put on a pair of gloves so that you can get right in there and give everything a solid toss and rubdown. Gloves are necessary, as the red chili flakes/powder will make your bare hands burn.
And voila, you have homemade kim chi that should please even the fussiest of Korean food critics.
You want to bottle the kim chi up in glass bottles, cap them, and leave them out at room temperature for 24 hours before refrigerating.
One word of warning: don't fill the jars right up to their tops, as the contents will expand a bit as the kim chi ferments, and filling the jars to their rims will likely result in leakage.
Here's a look from up top:
And from the front in all its glory:
After 24 hours of fermentation out in room temperature, transfer capped bottles to the refrigerator and take portions out as needed. The kim chi will continue to ferment while refrigerated, and will keep for at least a month. The longer it ferments, the more sour it will get. Personally, I prefer kim chi that isn't sour at all, so we tend to use these bottles up within a week or so.
Click here for a printer-friendly version of this recipe (no pictures):
Healthy Kim Chi Recipe
Once you master the art of making your own healthy kim chi, you can enjoy it as a side dish to just about any main dish, and you can make it a component of dishes like Korean pancakes (bin dae duk) and a number of different Korean stews.
http://drbenkim.com/how-make-kim-chi.htm
How to Make Cucumber Kim Chi
How to Make Cucumber Kim Chi
Posted By Dr. Ben Kim Healthy Meals
Updated on July 21, 2011: Please note: Cucumber kim chi is best refrigerated and enjoyed right after making it. You can allow it to ferment before refrigerating as you would with cabbage kim chi, but because cucumbers tend to go soft a lot quicker than cabbage, it's best to think of this dish as a crisp, refreshing salad/side dish. Enjoy...
One of the joys of Korean cuisine is having a number of healthy and yummy side dishes to eat along with each main course.
Kim chi - fermented, spicy cabbage - is easily the most celebrated Korean side dish.
Few non-Koreans know that hundreds if not thousands of varieties of kim chi are made throughout Korea. Makes perfect sense, of course, since you can make kim chi out of most varieties of vegetables.
Why should you consider eating kim chi now and again? It's a tasty way to give your body a number of nutrients that come with raw vegetables, including those found in raw garlic.
Combine raw garlic, plenty of enzymes, and a long list of antioxidants with the probiotics that come with naturally fermented kim chi, and you have yourself a true superfood that provides a powerful strengthening effect on your immune system.
Here's a look at how my mom makes cucumber kim chi, which has long been one of my favorite dishes...
Start with about 15 to 20 small cucumbers, the kind that are used to make dill pickles. If you can't find small cucumbers, you can use about the equivalent amount of large cucumbers.
Give the cucumbers a good rinse, then chop them into bite-size pieces. Put them in a large bowl, add about two flat tablespoons of sea salt, and toss well.
Allow salted pickles to sit overnight at room temperature, or at least for a couple of hours. The salt helps draw moisture out of the cucumbers, which creates a natural brine.
Now add 1/2 to 1 full teaspoon of minced raw garlic. We use raw minced garlic that we keep in a small container in the refrigerator.
Wash and chop up three green onions - not three bunches, but three individual ribs. Not sure if they are called ribs? Cords? Hope this is clear.
Add chopped green onions to the mix.
Don't you love seeing all this green? The green onions add texture and natural sweetness to this cucumber kim chi dish.
For a little extra sweetness, chop up 1/4 of a small to medium yellow onion.
And add it to the mix.
If you're worried about the sharp bite that raw onions have, stop worrying right now. Once given a day or two to naturally ferment, the onion loses most of its sharpness. But it doesn't lose any of its flavor, so unless you really have something against onions, go ahead and add some.
Now the part that makes any kim chi a real, authentic kim chi: add two flat tablespoons of fine red chili flakes.
I don't know whether to call this red chili flakes or powder. It's not really a powder...the flakes are really fine. Koreans call it ko choo kah rhoo, which literally means ground hot peppers.
If at all possible, please get some of this stuff from a local Korean grocery store so that you can be sure that you have the right kind for making kim chi. You can add ko choo kah rhoo to any number of dishes, of course, like miso soup and seasoned green beans. Koreans add ko choo kah rhoo to just about everything.
Did I mention that ko choo kah rhoo is extremely rich in vitamin C?
Now add a teaspoon of vinegar.
Next, put on a pair of gloves (to protect your skin against the heat of the ko choo kah rhoo) and give everything a good toss. Here's about what it should look like when you're done tossing:
Oops, forgot to add a little extra hint of sweetness. Just a tablespoon of honey will do, please.
You can actually add the honey before the first good toss...we just forgot.
Here's a good look at the glorious kim chi brine that is naturally created as you go through the steps in this recipe.
Once the kim chi cools down in the refrigerator, this brine is a real treat on hot days. Just one spoonful after a meal makes you feel like everything is going to be okay.
Now pack your cucumber kim chi away into glass bottles, and don't forget to add a bit of brine to each one - just a couple of tablespoons of brine per bottle will do.
Here's a close-up just before we cap it and put this baby to rest for a day or two.
All that's left to do at this point is to transfer the bottles to your refrigerator and enjoy small servings as you please. Cucumber kim chi doesn't typically keep as well as cabbage kim chi, so you can begin enjoying it right away, almost like a crisp, refreshing salad or side dish. It's best to eat up your batch within two to three days, though if kept refrigerated, it will keep for quite a bit longer, although it will lose its crunch by the day.
Dish some out, just like this, whenever you need a little kim chi to spice up a meal:
And the next time you make kim chi, feel free to be creative and try a different cut. For example, instead of chopping the cucumbers up into rough chunks, you can slice them into thinner, longer strips, which look really nice with a bowl of noodles. Here's what I mean:
For a printer-friendly version of this recipe, one that doesn't come with pictures, click here:
Cucumber Kim Chi Recipe
For a look at how my mom makes traditional cabbage kim chi, view:
How to Make Kim Chi (Cabbage)
Enjoy!
http://drbenkim.com/how-to-make-cucumber-kim-chi.htm
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