Korea – Kimchi

by Eveyln Brutz

Kimchi is a traditional Korean dish that is served as Bachan. It is a dish of traditional Korean Pickle. It is formed by fermenting vegetables, meat into salt and rice vinegar. Famous vegetables to be used in Kimchi are Cabbage, Capsicum, Corn, Cucumber, radish, etc. This is served with many dishes to enhance the flavor, tanginess, some kick to flavors. This is more like sourness, tangy flavor, and fiber content is also very high due to having vegetables in it. Some people used to make kimchi with Meat like especially Chicken, and beef also. It is served dishes like seafood, Jeotgal, etc.

Pungent, sour, and tangy vegetables go well with any dish, either rice, meat dish, salad, etc. Fried rice, Fried chicken, Noodles, Dumplings, are the dishes. Kimchi also has many varieties by adding some spices into kimchi, By adding different ingredients like mix vegetables and meat, And many more herbs to make the flavor more valuable.

BENEFITS OF HAVING KIMCHI IN DIET

• High fiber content
• Control sugar level
• Boost up the immunity
• Low calorie content
• Rcih in zinc and Iron
• Have all required nutritions
• Vitamins
• Help in digestion

HISTORY OF KIMCHI

It is like a story of kimchi origin, ancient Korean used to love vegetables because of their nutrition and crunchiness, flavors, etc. Every vegetable is seasonal like cabbage is cultivated in summers and consumed in winters. Like they want to consume cabbage whole a year. So they decided to preserve it in salt and water for the use of the whole year. This procedure went viral in Korea and they used to preserve those vegetables by fermentation. From that different adaptations are proceed and they use to add different spices for more flavor and taste. That they mix their favorite vegetables and preserve them by adding spices and this became a dish, that is now known as KIMCHI.

It is said that KIMCHI has five flavors.

• Salt.
• Bitter
• Sweet
• Sour
• Spicy

FERMENTATION PROCEDURE

Fermentation is the procedure used to make many dishes and many forms of bread. It is like a procedure in which simple carbohydrates like sugar are converted into acid to make it tangy. It procedure required few minutes to many days for vegetables to ferment completely. This fermentation is known as LACTIC ACID FERMENTATION because the end product of this fermentation in which sugar is converted into Lactic Acid. It is formed by adding vegetables into salted water also known as Brine and then cover the lid of the jar and rest it for 2 days. The procedure takes place and covert the crunchy vegetables into pickled ones. This is the procedure to kill harmful bacteria and healthy bacterias are served as they proceed with the fermentation procedure.

Some spices are added because Korean Love spicy food and they added some spices like seven herb spices into kimchi for a spicy flavor. Many exotic vegetables like garlic, ginger, onions, kale, cucumber, etc.

Kimchi has sour, salty, spicy, Pungent, and tangy. Kimchi has an umami flavor. Kimchi has a sour taste from the fermentation process.

COMPONENTS OF KIMCHI

NAPA CABBAGE

Napa cabbage is Chinese cabbage is used in making kimchi. It is from the species, Brassica Rapa. It is also known as CHINESE CABBAGE and WOMBOK. It literary means Big White vegetable. It is usually light green in color and has prominent veins in leaves.

It is rich in :

• Iron
• Vitamin C
• Magnesium
• Calcium
• Fiber
• Sodium
• Folic acid

CHAMNAMUL

It is a scented plant that has small edible leaves, saw- tooth, and white flowers. It is also known as  short-fruit pimpinella. It is used in many Korean dishes like :

• Chamnamul Pasta
• Chamnamul Muchim
• Chamnamul Jeonbok
• Chamnamul Meat, etc.

CRESS

Garden Cress is a leafy plant that has a sharp and spicy taste. It has leaves used to serve as herbs and enhance the texture and flavor of the dish. It has a very sharp fragrance that gives the dish a new flavor and aroma.

It is also known as :

• Mustard cress leaves
• Cress leaves
• Garden pepper cress
• Pepper wort
• Pepper grass.

KOREAN RADISH

Korean radishes have a strong fragrance, firm texture. Korean radish is called Mucheon and is used as a vegetable in various dishes. It is very popular in Korea and used in many dishes

TYPES

• mucheong 
• mu-mallaengi
• ssammu 
• musun 
• Siraegi

MANY OTHER VEGETABLES

• Bomdong
• Spinach
• Lotus roots
• Scallions
• Seaweed
• Rapeseed leaves
• Cucumber
• Egg plant
• Garlic Chives
• Korean Tree Shoots

SEASONINGS

• Brine
• Salt
• Vinegar
• Salted Hairtail
• Chili flakes
• Jeotgal
• Chili powder
• Salted croaker
• Cod gills
• Shrimp
• Raw seafood
• Fish sauce

MICROBES IN KIMCHI

All are healthy natural beneficial microbes of the fermentation procedure.

• B. subtilis
• parabrevis
• W. kandleri
• Lb. curvatus
• Lb. pentosus, etc

VARIETIES

• Baechu-geotjeori : Unfermented napa cabbage
• Bossam-kimchi : Wrapped kimchi
• Kkakdugi Kimchi : Korean Radish Kimchi
• Yangbaechu-kimchi : Spicy cabbage kimchi
• Oi-sobagi ; Cucumber salad kimchi
• Nabbak kimchi ; Spicy water kimchi
• Dongkimi : Non spicy water kimchi

INGREDIENTS

• Naba cabbage : 2 large
• Onions : 1
• Scallions : 4 bunches
• Ginger : sliced 4 pieces
• Garlic slices : 4 pieces
• Cucumber : 2 large sized
• Carrots : 2
• Corn : 2
• Korean radish : 6 to 8

SEASONINGS :

• Salt : 1 tsp
• Miso paste : 2 tbsp
• Liquid aminos : 1 cup
• Seven Herbs : 1 tbsp
• Salmon paste : 2 tbsp
• Brine water : 8 glass
• Chili powder : 2 tbsp
• Salted croakers : 4 tbsp
• Ghochugaro : 4 tbsp

METHOD

• Cut all the vegetables into large cubes shape, and add all the seasonings into bowl mixed with vegetables.
• Now in a air tight conatiner add water brine, aminos and all the tossed vegetables.
• The ideal temparature for fermentaion is 55 to 65 degrees.
• Jar to put kimchi in must be air tight, requirement of fermentation procedure.
• Total time required 2 to 3 daysfor the procedure to complete.
• After 3 days serve and enjoy with many Korean Dishes.