KIMCHI MADE SIMPLE
Ancient Korean dish hot new trend
Lots of people — young and old — have been asking me how to make it.
Sunna Na travelled halfway around the world, from her home in Seoul, South Korea, to Ottawa, to learn the art of fine French cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu. The menu at The Swan at Carp, the restaurant she owns with her husband, features everything from escargots and crêpes to Parisian-chicken-and-brie pot pies.
She also interned for five years at Stubbe Chocolates, learning from a fifth-generation German chocolate master. The Swan at Carp is also justifiably renowned for her chocolate truffles, moulded chocolates and her famous Chocolate Supreme Cake.
But these days, it’s the dish she learned from her mother that’s perhaps getting the most attention.
“We’ve served kimchi since we started, 12 years ago,” says Na, who married a fellow Cordon Bleu student. “But mostly, back then, people would leave it in their bento boxes.”
Now, says Na, kimchi is suddenly hotter than the red pepper powder that goes into it.
“People ask if we have it and they even ask if they can buy it to take home. Lots of people — young and old — have been asking me how to make it.”
Na, who has childhood memories of Seoul families getting together every fall to transform a truckload of cabbage into enough kimchi to last the winter, is pleased to share her traditional recipe, which she has streamlined to make a bit simpler.
“Even Korean women now are afraid to make kimchi, maybe be- cause they remember it taking a whole day. That’s why I’ve made it simpler,” says the mother of two. “Using a food processor is fine — if the ingredients are chopped so fine they’re almost mushy, they absorb better into the cabbage. Anyone can do it, and they should because it’s so nutritious and has lots of good bacteria — four times more than yogurt.”
At The Travel & Vacation Show on Saturday, April 9, at 2 p.m., Na will put on a demonstration sponsored by the Korean Tourist Office, showing how to make kimchi and bulgogi. Spectators will even get to sample those dishes, while quantities last.
NA ALSO DEMONSTRATED HOW TO MAKE KIMCHI FOR CITIZEN READERS—FINDA VIDEO AT OTTAWA CITIZEN. COM/ FOOD
Chef Sunna Na says you can find ingredients such as Korean radishes, sweet rice flour and gochugaru in most Asian stores. In Ottawa, try the Arum Market at 512 Bank St. or T& T Supermarket at 224 Hunt Club Rd. A traditional Korean lidded crock is nice for fermenting kimchi, but you can use any large Tupperware container. You also need gloves and a very large bowl for mixing the ingredients and coating the cabbages.
KIMCHI
Makes: about 12 cups (3 L)
Preparation time: about 2 hours ( but then about 2 weeks to ferment) 2 heads Napa cabbage 10 cups (2.5 L) lukewarm water 1 cup (250 mL) sea salt 2 cups (500 mL) water ½ cup (125 mL) sweet rice flour ¼ cup (125 mL) sugar 2 large white Korean radishes (to make 6 cups/1.5 L julienned) 2 bunches green onions 2 bunches garlic chives (same size bundles as green onions) 1-inch (2.5-cm) piece ginger root ½ cup (125 mL) garlic cloves 1 Asian pear, cored and cut in chunks 1 cup (250 mL) fish sauce 2 large red onions, chopped 2 cups (500 mL) Korean hot red pepper powder (gochugaru)
1. Trim bottoms of heads of Napa cabbage, leaving root end intact. Partially slice heads in half lengthwise, starting at the root end and cutting just about a third of the way up through the thicker bottom part, then tearing the rest of the way to make two rough halves from each.
2. Pour 10 cups (2.5 L) lukewarm water into a large bowl, then stir in salt to make a brine. Immerse the 4 cabbage halves and allow to wilt for 90 minutes to 2 hours (less in summer; longer in cool temperatures).
3. Make a rice “porridge” by bringing 2 cups (500 mL) water and the sweet rice flour to a boil in a saucepan, stirring constantly for 3-5 minutes until thickened. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar. Whisk periodically as mixture cools to prevent lumps forming.
4. With a knife or mandoline, julienne radishes into sticks less than ¼-inch (6-mm) wide and about 4 inches (10 cm) long. Reserve. Slice green onions and garlic chives on the diagonal into 2-inch (5-cm) pieces. Reserve.
5. Add ginger root and garlic cloves to a food processor; mince. Add pear pieces and half the fish sauce and purée. Add chopped onions and purée again. Pour mixture from processor into a very large bowl.
6. Whisk in rice porridge, remaining fish sauce and half the red pepper powder.
7. Wearing gloves (the mixture can burn and stain your hands) mix in the remaining red pepper powder to make a thick paste. Add julienned radish, green onions and garlic chives and fold gently to thoroughly coat vegetables with the sauce.
8. Drain the brined cabbage halves, then add to the mixture in bowl one at a time, gently smearing vegetable-paste mixture between all leaves, then folding down tops of leaves to make tight coated balls. Place coated cabbages in crock or other container, with a bit more of the vegetablepaste mixture smeared on top. Leave a couple of inches space below lid, since juices will bubble up as the mixture ferments.
9. Leave crock or container at room temperature inside in winter for a couple of days, or for as little as overnight outside on a hot, humid summer night, until liquid has formed on top and vegetables have yellowed slightly.
10. Then store in fridge. “You can use it right away,” says Na, “but it’s best after about two weeks. Then you can keep it in the fridge for months. Be careful to remove kimchi from the crock with clean and dry hands or utensils, otherwise mould can form.”