Some people like fresh Kimchi, which is not very sour but taste crunch, and some people like sour kimchi, which already fermented for a while. I like both but eating in different season. If you can't finish Kimchi after it become very sour, the best way to eat is using it to make other dishes such as I mentioned making stew or pan fry with pork, chicken or beef.
Recently I decide to make Kimchi by myself because home made food it's always cheaper than store. Before I thought making Kimchi is sophisticated and requires a lot of time, but I found a recipe of easy way to make Kimchi, which didn't take me long time. So I make Napa cabbage and cucumber this time. (Actually this is my first time to make Kimchi). It's been second day now, and still fermenting in my fringe. I tried couple bites, and it's pretty good.
Ingredient:
1 cabbage about 1.91lb
3 tbsp of salt
For spicy paste: ( if you want to use for cucumber, just leave 1/4 cup of spicy paste)
2/3 cup of rice flour or sweet rice flour
2 cups of water
1/3 cup of sugar
2/3 cup of garlic about 10 cloves
2/3 cup of onion
2 tbsp of ginger
1/2 cup of fish souse
1 carrot about 0.18lb
1 leek about 0.15 lb
3 green onion
2 cups of hot pepper flakes or powder
( For sweet rice flour and hot pepper fakers, you can find at Korean or Chinese supper market)
Steps
1.cut Napa cabbage in small bite size, then rains and dry it.
2. Add salt to cabbage evenly and mix it, then leave it for 1and 1/2 hours. ( while mixing salt with cabbage, you can add a bit of salt each time you mix it and turn the button to up for 3 times. you will see water water from cabbage come out 1 and 1/2 hours later.)
3. After 1and 1/2 hours, pour out water came out from cabbage and rains cabbage for 3 times, then place it aside.
4. For making spicy paste: in a souse pen, boil sweet rice flour with water, then add and mix sugar wile water is boiling. Turned off heat and put it aside for cooling down or you can put the souse pen in a bow of cold water.
5. put garlic, onion, ginger, and fish souse in mixer for about 2 minutes.
6. chop green onion in about 2 inch size or whatever size you like, and chop carrot in silk shape.
7. Mix step 4,5,6 and hot pepper flakes, then mix it evenly, which is the spicy paste we are going to mix with cabbage.
8. Adding spicy paste in cabbage and using your hand to mix it. ( you can add spicy paste separately for easy mixing)
9. After done with mixing, place Kimchi in container or glass bottle, and put in refrigerator for 3 days. ( This will keep the Kimch fresh and fermented slowly, but if you like sour flavor, you can place at place where has no sun exposure for about 2 days.)
I use the extra spicy paste I made for cucumber.
For cucumber you will need:
1tbsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp vinegar
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 cup of spicy paste ( or depend how spicy you like)
1.Use the same method with making cabbage, mixing salt with cucumber. leave it for 30 minutes for letting the water from cucumber come out.
2. rains cucumber with water for 3 times, so cucumber won't be very salty since we add a lot of salt.
3. add spicy paste we just made and mix with sugar, vinegar and sesame oil.
4. Put in the refrigerator for 1 day.
Now you can eat this a little sweet, sour, and spicy cucumbers.
