Last weekend, the Good Fork's Sohui Kim shared her kimchi-making prowess at Pioneer Works in Red Hook.
To start: A chat about the health benefits of kimchi (which are huge), a little white wine and a copy of the secret recipe.
Quartered heads of napa cabbage, washed in brine, lie in wait.
Kimchi paste essentials: garlic, onions, something sweet (Sohui uses red bell pepper), ginger and daikon radish.
The mise en place.
Farm fresh green onion and daikon radish are next to the knives.
Daikon radish complements the taste of raw or oily foods, and aids digestion.
The daikon and green onion: mixing it up.
Enter the Robot Coupe. (A sexy food processor)
Traditionally, Korean women would grind the kimchi paste by hand. Crikey!
At the Good Fork the kimchi is vegan, but for this class salted shrimp are added.
Korean red pepper, also known as Gochugaru. A no-joke amount.
Gochugaru is said to release endorphins, lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease. And so pretty!
The mixture is worked with gloved hands until it becomes paste-like.
Salt to taste.
Bits of cabbage are combined with samples of the pepper paste to determine the balance of seasoning.
The paste is applied to the cabbage, leaf by leaf.
The smell is a marvelous tickle of spice and pungent brine.
Accumulation.
The kimchi is moved into containers, where it will finish fermenting.
A wealth of riches, kimchi-style.
Refrigerate for one night and store for up to a year.
As if. Kimchi and brown rice breakfast with egg and green onion. For the third time this week. It's a good thing I have the recipe!
