Kimchi is one of the classic Korean dishes. Its history begins in 1 millennium BC, and possibly earlier. The main component of the dish is cabbage, fermented and seasoned with hot spices and vegetables, sometimes with the addition of seafood, mushrooms, seaweed and so on.
Kimchi is officially included in the list of the healthiest food in the world, is a national symbol and tourist attraction of Korea, and UNESCO recognizes the culture of its preparation as a masterpiece of the intangible heritage of mankind.
There are thousands of recipes for cooking this dish, and every hostess in Korea prepares kimchi in their own way. In the article we will step by step tell how to cook kim chi (or, as they call this dish, kimcha, chamcha, chimcha, chim, chim cha) from Chinese cabbage, and also, apart from simple step-by-step recipes, we’ll show photos salads before serving.
What is this salad usually made from?
It is Beijing cabbage that is the main ingredient of the dish. Although its other types are often used:
- white;
- Red.
Also, instead, use:
- bow;
- daikon;
- kohlrabi;
- asparagus;
- eggplant and other vegetables.
How to make at home?
With ginger and carrots
Ingredients:
- Beijing cabbage - 1 head of medium size.
- Spicy coarse red pepper - 3 tbsp. l
- Ginger - a piece of 6-7 cm.
- Carrot - 1 pc.
- Sugar and salt - to taste.
- Water - 1.5 liters.
Cooking:
- Head out washed, disassembled into leaves.
- Wash carrots, peel and grate.
- Ginger peel and chop.
- Salt and sugar dissolved in water, add pepper.
- Put the cabbage leaves into the container with the prepared solution, transferring them to carrots and ginger.
- Leave to ferment for several days in a warm place, clean the prepared dish in a cold place.
With olive oil and coriander
Ingredients:
- Chinese cabbage - 1 pc.
- Fresh red hot pepper - 1-2 pcs.
- Ginger - a piece of 5 cm.
- Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp.
- Salt - 2 tbsp.
- Water - 1 liter.
- Olive oil - 2 tbsp.
How to salt:
- Wash cabbage, cut lengthwise, put in a container, pour in brine, leave it under heat for a couple of days.
- To refuel, clean and chop the ginger, wash the pepper, remove the seeds, grind in a meat grinder, add the coriander, grated ginger, oil, mix.
- Rinse the cabbage, cut into slices as desired, mix with dressing, cover with a lid and leave to ferment for another 2 days.
- The finished dish is stored in the refrigerator.
Spicy red pepper salad
When cooking kimchi for these recipes, you must buy a special red pepper.
With paprika and soy sauce
Ingredients:
- Peking cabbage -1 kg.
- Water - 1.5 liters.
- Salt - to taste.
- Red Bulgarian pepper - 300 g
- Chili pepper - 1-2 pcs.
- Bitter pepper for kimchi flakes - 1-2 pcs.
- Soy sauce - 50 ml.
- Garlic - 1 clove.
- Black pepper and other spices - to taste.
- Citric acid is optional.
Cooking:
- Boil the water with salt.
- Wash cabbage, sort, chop into pieces, if desired.
- Fold in brine, tamp, put under the oppression and leave to soak for a couple of days, then rinse.
- Bulgarian pepper and chilli wash, remove seeds and stems.
- Chop the chilli, cut the Bulgarian pepper into slices, add the sauce, spread the cabbage leaves with paste, put into sterilized jars, pour in the brine and leave for a day in the heat. Citric acid will speed up the process.
- A sign of the readiness of the dish is the appearance of small bubbles on the walls of the cans.
- After that, the banks are removed in a cool place.
With bell pepper and pear
Ingredients:
- Beijing cabbage - 3 kg.
- Onion - 1 head.
- Garlic - 4-5 teeth.
- Bulgarian pepper of different colors - 3 pcs.
- Pear - 1 pc.
- Green onions - 1 bunch.
- Sugar - 1 tbsp.
- Red pepper flakes for kimchi - 2-3 st.l.
- Salt - to taste.
- Rice decoction - 1-2 cups.
Cooking:
- Cabbage is immersed in the brine until softened, then washed.
- Rice decoction is mixed with sugar and pepper.
- Onions, garlic, bell pepper and pear are crushed in a blender and added to rice paste, and each cabbage leaf is coated with this mixture.
The latter must be done in gloves so that your hands are not injured.
How to pickle with garlic?
In these recipes, the main emphasis in terms of refueling is made on garlic, and it will take a lot, so the dish will be very spicy.
The easiest way
Ingredients:
- Beijing cabbage - 2 kg.
- Garlic - 6-7 heads.
- Salt - 500 g
- Bay leaf - 10 pieces.
- Sugar - 0.5 cup.
- Sliced red pepper bitter - 4 tbsp.
Cooking:
- Boil the water with salt, sugar and bay leaf.
- Rinse the head, cut in half, immerse in brine for two days, then rinse in cold water.
- Chop the garlic, mix with pepper and smear the cabbage carefully each leaf (wear rubber gloves on your hands).
- Keep the day in a warm place. Upon reaching the readiness to remove the cold.
How to pickle with the addition of pink salmon
It is very tasty if you add a salty pink salmon in pieces, including the head, to the above list of ingredients. Pieces of fish are placed between the sheets of cabbage while spreading garlic-pepper paste. The cooking method remains the same.
How to make chimcha from green onions?
Yes, there are such recipes, because Korean women can cook kimchi from everything that is edible. This type of kimchi is called pha-kimchi, and the main ingredient in it is onions.
The traditional way of salting
Ingredients:
- Green onion or leek - 500 g
- Beijing cabbage is a small head of cabbage.
- Soy sauce - 1/3 cup.
- Ginger - spine 2-3 cm.
- Spicy whole pepper - 4 tbsp.
- Garlic - 3-4 cloves.
- Sugar - 1 tbsp.
- Sesame - 1 tsp
- Rice flour - 2 tbsp.
Cooking:
- Rinse onions and cabbage, sort, cut as you like, pour soy sauce.
- Prepare rice water from flour and a glass of water, add sugar, ginger, chopped garlic and sesame.
- Pour the mixture in the marinade with vegetables and leave for two days in a warm place.
- Ready food stored in the refrigerator.
With fish sauce
You can make kimchi using a different sauce. It is called fish and is prepared from anchovies, sometimes Thai, Vietnamese, etc.
You can buy it in specialized stores of Asian cuisine or in large supermarkets. It has a peculiar smell, but when you combine the ingredients in a dish, it turns out very appetizing.
Instant kimcha
If you really want a spicy, and there is no time to wait for the complete fermentation of the dish, you should not postpone the pleasure indefinitely. There are Korean cooks in the piggy bank and quick recipes for this dish.
Cucumber
Fresh cucumbers can also become the basis for kimchi, and this snack is made quickly, that is, marinated for no more than an hour. This Korean instant salad with cucumbers is prepared as follows.
Ingredients:
- Cucumbers - 4 pcs.
- Beijing cabbage - 1 small head.
- Garlic - 2 cloves.
- Salt - 1 tbsp.
- Chili pepper - 0.5 tsp.
- Red hot pepper - 1 fruit.
- Coriander - 0.5 tsp.
- Ginger - a piece of 2 cm.
- Sesame - 1 tbsp.
- Kinza and other greens - to taste.
Cooking:
- Wash cucumbers and cut into thinner sticks, cut Peking cabbage into small pieces, mix everything, salt and leave for 20-30 minutes in heat.
- Garlic, chilli, greens, ginger, red pepper, coriander grind blender.
- Rinse the vegetables, dislodge with dressing and let stand for half an hour.
- Sprinkle with roasted sesame.
With paprika and carrots
The dish turns sweet-spicy, and olive oil tells it a pleasant bitterness.
Ingredients:
- Beijing cabbage - 3 small heads.
- Carrot - 1 pc.
- Dried paprika pieces - 0.5-1 tbsp.
- Sweet Bulgarian pepper - 1 pc.
- Olive oil - 10 tbsp.
- Classic soy sauce - 3 tbsp. l
- Garlic - 1-2 cloves.
- Rice vinegar - 6 tbsp.
- Sesame - 3-4 pinches.
- Hot red pepper coarsely ground - 0.5-1 tbsp.
- Salt - to taste.
Marinating as follows:
- Rinse the cabbage, cut off the lower part and cut into slices, then fold into a bowl, salt and mash.
- Peel the carrots and cut them into thin strips.
- Pepper wash, remove the stem, partitions and seeds, chop as thin as possible.
- Vegetables combine, pour rice vinegar, soy sauce and vegetable oil.
- Add hot pepper and dried paprika.
- Stir again, add sesame, put the capacity to marinate in a warm place.
- The dish can be eaten in a couple of hours, but in a couple of days it will become much tastier.
Chinese radish
From the recipe below you can remove any seasoning, leaving a minimum, and get a summer savory refreshing salad.
- Daikon - 600
- Head of cabbage.
- Salt - 1.5 tbsp. l
- Green onion or leek - 2 pcs.
- Garlic - 3 cloves.
- Ginger - 0.5 tbsp. l
- Red Hot Pepper - 4 tbsp. l
- Thai fish sauce - 3 tbsp. l
- Sugar - 1 tbsp. l
- Rice flour - 1 tbsp. l
- Water - 120 ml.
Cooking:
- Clean Daikon, cut into pieces, wash the cabbage, cut along, salt all cool, leave for half an hour, then rinse well.
- Chop green onions and sprinkle them with vegetables.
- Dissolve rice flour in water, heat, mix with pepper, sugar, chopped ginger and fish sauce. Let it stand.
- Combine all components, mix and put in a warm place for 2-3 hours.
What foods are served?
The food is perfect for any second course:
- mushroom;
- meat;
- fish.
You can use it as a snack to alcohol.
It goes well with:
- lean rice;
- hot potatoes;
- watered with butter;
- rice noodles;
- udon noodles
Separately kimchi served with:
- chopped nuts;
- sesame;
- finely chopped greens;
- pear slices;
- apples;
- slices of prunes and so on.
A photo
Take a look at the photo with the serving options of spicy pickled and salted Kimchi salads from Chinese cabbage.
Conclusion
Kimchi is rapidly gaining popularity all over the world. It is added to hamburgers, pizza, soups are made on its basis. The food is considered dietary, as it removes body fat from the body, helps with colds and hangovers, protects blood vessels from atherosclerosis, destroys the pathogenic flora, strengthens the immune system, slows down the aging process.
Bacteria in kimchi kill avian flu and SARS: this is a scientific fact, confirmed experimentally and applied in practice.
There are many kinds of kimchi, and not all of them are sharp. We told how to salt the Chinese and pickle cabbage. Ways of cooking this dish vary greatly in different parts of the country, so there is always a choice for gourmets. And do not forget that everything is good in moderation, especially savory snacks.