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Felicity makes kimchi

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Felicity makes kimchi

Postby Pepper Pig » Wed May 13, 2020 5:02 pm


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Re: Felicity makes kimchi

Postby sunflower » Wed May 13, 2020 9:44 pm

I have made Kimchi for years. This recipe looks odd in many ways. There is something missing in this kimchi recipe. Kimchi always has a thick rice sauce made with cooking rice flour and water. This helps to start the fermentation. This recipe uses 180g salt that is too wasteful, about 1/2 cup is more than enough. I never use brine always sprinkle salt by layering on the cabbage then leave for few hours, wash and wring dry. Also always leave enough room for the vegetable to expand during fermentation. Do not seal the jar tight unless you have an air lock fermention jar if not the jar may explode with Kimch sauce when you open it.

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Re: Felicity makes kimchi

Postby Sakkarin » Wed May 13, 2020 10:03 pm

I notice too that she seems to have confused dried shrimp and salted shrimp...

"If you’d prefer to keep it vegetarian, or can’t find either dried shrimp or fish sauce, leave them out."

I'll be making a new batch as soon as I can get hold of some more of those salted shrimp. Sunflower's recipe of course...

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Re: Felicity makes kimchi

Postby Stokey Sue » Wed May 13, 2020 10:46 pm

I have seen a number of Korean cooks make it without rice on both TV cooking programmes and travelogues, lots of variations are possible. The kimchi I buy from the Korean shop does not contain rice either

Judy Joo's recipe uses no rice and uses brined shrimp not dried, so salted I guess

https://www.wellandgood.com/good-food/c ... de-kimchi/

I like kimchi, but eat so little of it, I think I'll probably continue to buy it. Trouble is, if you buy it it is usually pasteurised, so ironically does not keep as well once opened Perhaps I'll get a Napa cabbage and try it some time

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Re: Felicity makes kimchi

Postby sunflower » Wed May 13, 2020 10:55 pm

Salted shrimp is nothing like dried shrimp.

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This is salted shrimps. Available in most Korean supermarkets. Some Chinese supermarket may stock this. Keep in fridge for a long time.

Kimchi is easy to make. There us no need to buy.

I have tried so many ways to make kimchi over the years. I stopped adding any fruits i find fruits oxidise making the sauce brownish red. I find without salted shrimps the kimchi still taste very good provided you put enough fish sauce to give the umami taste. There is no need to add salt to Kimchi sauce. Always add the sauce or seasonings bit by bit, mix and keep tasting, you can add and minus to suit your taste.

Always use coarse Korean pepper for kimchi, other chilli powder somehow don't look right. Keep it in fridge for freshness. If pepper is old over 1 year old the Kimch will not taste as good plus the Kimchi will not look bright red. So don't been tempted to buy big packet unless you make Kimchi regularly.

I mix my Kimchi with a large glass mixing bowl (plastic bowl will get stained by the chilli). Then cover with cling film and leave on the counter for about 2 days in summer or up to 5 days in the winter. Open and press the vegetables down daily with a large spoon. Have a taste daily if the kimchi tastes mildly sour it's time to pack in jars and keep in fridge to mature slowly. Freshly made Kimchi also very tasty without the sour taste. If old Kimchi tastes too sour, before serving just mix with a bit of sugar to mellow the taste and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

If you want to know ways to eat kimchi and use in other recipes I will give you few ideas.

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Re: Felicity makes kimchi

Postby Stokey Sue » Wed May 13, 2020 11:01 pm

Yes, that's clearly Judy Joo's brined shrimp, there's a good Korean shop in Islington and I've seen it there, when, funnily enough looking for dried shrimp which I use quite a lot

I'm a one person household, and a small tub of bought kimchi is enough for me for a while, it really isn't worth making it except as a project for the fun of it,

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Re: Felicity makes kimchi

Postby scullion » Wed May 13, 2020 11:30 pm

this is the recipe i've used in the past - it's very close to 'flick's' to the point that i wondered if she'd borrowed her recipe when i read it.
it was so much easier (and successful) than i'd imagined. lovely - although my partner was less enamoured - he's not that adventurous where food is concerned - i have forced him to try (and then like) quite a few different foods.

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Re: Felicity makes kimchi

Postby Badger's Mate » Thu May 14, 2020 12:23 am

I've still got a jar from two I made last year. It's not pasteurised of course - I'm disinclined to let Mrs B near it and it's not her thing anyway, at least the batch in the fridge would be a bit spicy for her. Consequently like Sue, I might as well buy it if I want it. We do get a few Chinese cabbages in the autumn, I was looking for ways to preserve it. I might try the Chinese water pickle as an alternative.

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Re: Felicity makes kimchi

Postby Sakkarin » Sun May 24, 2020 1:26 pm

I'd decided to make a new batch of kimchi, but was missing the salted shrimp, and went to the local oriental shop halfheartedly hoping that they might have some. I showed the guy there a photo, and he said a definite no, however in my hunt around the shop for other stuff, I spotted some weeny white dried shrimp that looked like the kimchi shrimp.

As I was paying for my other purchases, I said "I notice some dried shrimp that look like the pic I showed you, they're for kimchi...", and at the word "Kimchi", his eyes lighted up, and he said, "Kimchi, yes", and rushed to the fridge and pointed at the pack I had spotted. So that's what I've used. They are considerably smaller than normal dried shrimp, and have the little black eyes as the ones in jars. Last time I used the proper ones, so it will be interesting to see how the sub turns out.

Tesco's Kimchi is an eye-watering £2.75 for 215g (it's cabbage for heaven's sake), so at 758g, my batch yesterday works out at nearly a tenner's worth (£9.69), for maybe £2.50. I'll do a proper workout later.
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/p ... /301064141

On the basis that if it works, stick with it, I went for Sunflower's recipe again (downsized to 1/3 for a small Tesco chinese cabbage at just under 500g), very similar to the one Scullion spotted, but predates it by 11 years!
http://sunflower-recipes.blogspot.com/2 ... imchi.html

Top pic: my latest batch; Bottom pic: comparison of my weeny dried shrimp and the normal ones (small - you can get a lot bigger ones too) I had in the fridge. Note headless and orangeish.

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Re: Felicity makes kimchi

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun May 24, 2020 2:01 pm

That looks good Sakkarin, intrigues by the micro shrimp, looks like something you'd feed to tropical fish

I was in Waitrose some time ago and saw what I though was a small jar of Kimchi, just enough for me, so I grabbed it. Only when I got it home did I notice the tiny word PASTE, or read the serving suggestion that you use it to make an instant kimchi - an ideas on waht to do with it gratefully received, looks like a candidate for the nasty foods thread

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Re: Felicity makes kimchi

Postby Sakkarin » Sun May 24, 2020 2:17 pm

Haaa! On the Waitrose website, a reviewer suggests:

"This is terrific stuff: it would make a great ingredient in a roadkill stew."

https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/ ... 995-672996

I guess you could add it to prepared napa cabbage/mooli/sprunions/carrot and pretend it's kimchi...

P.S. No kimchi recipe I've seen includes vinegar as far as I recall. From the reviews, it seems that the recipe it was intended to be used with (Waitrose magazine?) with included extra vinegar on top of that in the "paste":

"I do not use any vinegar as the paste is strong enough and vegetables will ferment a little. I would suggest using a small amount of paste say a teaspoon or two depending on the amount of vegetables. "

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Re: Felicity makes kimchi

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun May 24, 2020 2:51 pm

I assume the vinegar is there partly as a preservative, and partly because if you are using it to make "quick kimchi" - basically as a salad dressing without fermentation - presumably you need to replace the acid created during fermentation?

I didn't think to look at the reviews, might be vaguely useful to make a stew or to dress one of the items on a bibimbap

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Re: Felicity makes kimchi

Postby Renee » Sun May 24, 2020 11:48 pm

Sunflower, many thanks for all the information about kimchi. I have been thinking about making it for a while now. Does shop bought kimchi have the same health benefits as home made?

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Re: Felicity makes kimchi

Postby Sakkarin » Sat May 30, 2020 7:33 pm

Haa! Just bought a small jar of Kimchi in Lidl for 99p!

The ingredients are pretty close to what is in my homemeade (note Renee regarding last post), right down to "fermented prawn extract" (as well as fish sauce), although it obviously has a great deal of added water, probably 50g of the 190g, so it's more like 150g. It also has glucose syrup. Not sure what that's doing in there, other than allowing the addition of more sugar than you'd realise. I can tell before I try it that it's not going to have that "edge". Bear in mind that my kimchi had NO added water (other than the very small amount that was thickened in the rice paste), where water is listed here as the second greatest ingredient.

Conversely, my kimchi smells really rich and sweet now, although it hasn't been visibly fermenting yet (i.e. no bubbles).

https://www.lidl.co.uk/en/p/product-rec ... chi/p32248

P.S. 150g of my homemade works out at 48p.

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Re: Felicity makes kimchi

Postby sunflower » Sun May 31, 2020 12:38 am

Hi all

I saw the kimchi from Lidl it looks anaemic. Tiny little jar.

I am quite sure all the jar kimchi from the shop is preheated to kill the lively bacteria, if not the kimchi will continue to ferment bursting the jar. So if you want friendly bacteria make it yourself.

Kimchi fermentation should not be too lively giving lots of bubbles, if it does the temperature could be too high the resulting kimchi can be slimy and smells funky. I only leave the kimchi at room temperature for about 2 days in summer and max 4-5 days in winter. Soon as the kimchi is moderately sour it's time to keep in the fridge. The kimchi will continue to ferment slowly in the fridge, after few days should be sour enough to eat.

The starch paste provides food for the bacteria so this will ferment faster. Also the liquid tends to coat the kimchi better.

I won't bother to use dried shrimps if salted shrimp is not available. Good premium fish sauce is enough to give plenty of flavour.

I have seen recipes using fresh oysters.

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Re: Felicity makes kimchi

Postby Sakkarin » Sun May 31, 2020 11:35 am

I just did a side-by-side test.

The Lidl stuff tastes like mixed veg in a vinegary/sweet watered down sweet chilli sauce.

The homemade tastes completely different, with that deep pungent sweet and sour taste, and the veg has a lot more body.

I've made quite a few Kimchi-based Korean dishes, the Lidl stuff simply wouldn't work with them, it is just too insipid.

EDIT: Some time later, I can still taste the kimchi in my mouth and I'm reminded that garlic is an important part of the flavour. I could taste NO garlic in the Lidl stuff.

WORKOUT:
The Lidl kimchi very helpfully gives breakdown of its ingredients, and has 0.5% garlic, 0.2% ginger and 0.3% chilli powder.

For comparison, I've just calculated that my Sunflower kimchi has 1.33% garlic, 2% ginger and 3.6% chilli powder. Two and a half times more garlic, and 10 times more ginger and chilli.

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Re: Felicity makes kimchi

Postby Sakkarin » Sun May 31, 2020 11:55 pm

sunflower wrote:I have seen recipes using fresh oysters.

There's a kimchi recipe in Madhur Jaffrey's "Far Eastern Cookery" which uses 10 oysters to one cabbage. I think I'll I'll pass on that!

Tonight's kimchi meal, Korean Jjigae, I happened to have everything to hand, including some extra firm tofu. No spring onions, I happened to be passing Lidl but they'd run out of them, so I added a little bit of finely sliced onion. It wasn't a special journey to Lidl, I happened to be passing on my cycle ride as they were about to close.

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Re: Felicity makes kimchi

Postby Badger's Mate » Mon Jun 01, 2020 12:21 am

I had a go following a fermentation workshop last winter. There's still a jar in the fridge. It has remained OK. Quite spicy, very garlicky. I'd hoped that the workshop would inspire me to preserve some veg off the allotment, but it hasn't been entirely successful. Some, like the kimchi, is off limits to Mrs B. Others, such as the sauerkraut weren't a hit, albeit perfectly good.

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Re: Felicity makes kimchi

Postby Sakkarin » Mon Jun 01, 2020 4:39 pm

My old jar of kimchi was getting on for three years old - it smelt OKish and probably would have tasted OK, but I couldn't bring myself to as it had gone a very dingy looking colour. I ditched it, but there wasn't a huge amount left anyway.

I had a bit of an upset tummy after that initial Lidl/homemade test, remains to be seen if that was coincidental. Wouldn't have applied to yesterday's Kimchi stew, as that is cooked for 15 minutes. Same again today, as I have the remaining pork and tofu to use up.

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Re: Felicity makes kimchi

Postby sunflower » Mon Jun 01, 2020 6:52 pm

I eat kimchi uncooked as salad or side dish within 3 months old. Over 3 months i chuck it in fried rice, noodle soup, stew or pancakes.

I had had kimchi over 2 years still look ok just a bit brownish. As long as you don't see lumps of white or green mould it is still edible. Kimchi is quite resistable to moulds. Do not use dirty utensil to scoop out the kimchi. Also when the jar is less than half full change the container size do not leave too much empty space or the risk of mould is likeable.

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