Korean food – Beyond Umami https://www.beyondumami.com/ Macarons, recipes, step by step guides and more Thu, 18 Apr 2019 17:35:41 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.3 Small Batch DIY Homemade Kimchi Recipe https://www.beyondumami.com/2019/04/small-batch-diy-homemade-kimchi.html https://www.beyondumami.com/2019/04/small-batch-diy-homemade-kimchi.html#comments Tue, 09 Apr 2019 15:02:00 +0000 https://www.beyondumami.com/2019/04/small-batch-diy-homemade-kimchi.html holding a jar of kimchi up
It seems that I have fallen in love with having kimchi in our fridge. There are so many uses for kimchi including as a side to your main course, on noodles or kimchi fried rice of course! As time has progressed, I decided that I really wanted to make my own kimchi. When I asked the Korean ladies at church, all of their recipes were designed to make huge amounts (tubs!) of kimchi. After some tweaking and testing, this is the recipe that I currently love making at home; mainly because I can make a manageable amount of kimchi (1L) that doesn’t threaten to take over the entire fridge! 
daikon cut and cubed on a chopping board.
I enjoy having kimchi with a kick of spice followed by a touch of sweetness. To do this, I put cubes of daikon into the kimchi. You can also choose to skip this part but trust me, it just adds a little extra to your kimchi!

Small Batch DIY Homemade Kimchi Ingredients 

amount – 650g napa cabbage + half a daikon = 1 L kimchi OR 800g napa cabbage = 1 L
  • 650g napa cabbage – washed & cut
  • half a daikon cubed 
  • 1.5 tablespoons of coarse salt
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 bundle green onions (or less depending on preference)
Kimchi Slurry ingredients
  • 7 cloves of garlic
  • 1.5 inches of ginger
  • 1/2 cup of simple syrup
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 3/4 cup ground red pepper 
  • 3.5 tablespoons fish sauce

* to make a simple syrup, mix 1 cup of hot water with 1 cup of sugar. Store the extra in an air tight container for future kimchi making or for making drinks!

simple syrup in a clear pyrex jar

Small Batch DIY Homemade Kimchi Directions

  1. Wash and drain napa cabbage Cut into smaller 1 inch (3 – 4 cm) squares.
  2. Fill a large container with the washed napa cabbage ( I use a wide plastic one from the Dollar store).
  3. Sprinkle 1.5 tablespoons of coarse salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar over the napa cabbage. Massage the salt and sugar over all the cabbage. Pop the cover on and leave in fridge for a day.
  4. Make the kimchi slurry by blending up garlic, ginger, simple syrup, water, soy sauce, chili flakes and fish sauce in a food processor or vitamix. Transfer to an air tight jar.
    *This can be made the day before or the day you mix the kimchi together.
  5. The next day, drain out all the water from the cabbage.
  6. Wash and sanitize a 1L mason jar.
  7. Place the tub containing the napa cabbage in the sink (this will make clean-up after easier) After peeling the top layer of the carrot, use the same peeler to make thin slices of carrot and put these slices into the tub with the napa cabbage. 
  8. Add chopped green onion. 
  9. Add cubed daikon. 
  10. Add about 4 -6 big tablespoons of the kimchi slurry onto the cabbage mix. It depends on how much cabbage you have and how strong of a flavour you want.
  11. Mix the kimchi slurry into the cabbage until everything is well coated. I use gloves to keep my hands from being stained red.
  12. Fill mason jar with the kimchi. Jam everything in as much as possible; so that there are no air pockets! 
  13. Place your bottled kimchi in a large ziplock bag in the fridge. This will help prevent any of the flavours from getting into the rest of the food in the fridge. Every few days “burp” (open the jar) to allow any gas from the fermenting kimchi to be released. Allow your kimchi to ferment for about a week for best tasting results!
napa cabbage, diced green onion, peeled carrot for making kimchi

hot red kimchi slurry processed in the vitamix

kimchi slurry on top of napa cabbage, cubed daikon, carrots
bottled kimchi in a 1 L mason jar on a black background

Some people say that you only need to ferment for 1 day, or until it starts “burping”. I prefer to have my kimchi more fermented but you should try for yourself and taste test along the way. The fermenting gases will continually build up so remember to release the gas. Otherwise, the kimchi will be very fizzy tasting. I find the amount of kimchi perfect for Dan and I as it takes about a month to finish one of these jars. Enjoy your kimchi!

]]> https://www.beyondumami.com/2019/04/small-batch-diy-homemade-kimchi.html/feed/ 3 Cookbook Review – Korean Food Made Simple by Judy Joo https://www.beyondumami.com/2017/10/cookbook-review-korean-food-made-simple.html https://www.beyondumami.com/2017/10/cookbook-review-korean-food-made-simple.html#comments Tue, 17 Oct 2017 01:47:00 +0000 https://www.beyondumami.com/2017/10/cookbook-review-korean-food-made-simple.html
Finished Seafood fritters on a plate
I always enjoy going out to Korean restaurants and ordering my favourite Korean dishes such as: seafood pancakes, Japchae and bulgogi. I received a copy of Korean Food Made Simple by Judy Joo from Raincoast Books. Over the past year, I have made a few of my favourite Korean dishes from her cookbook. I love how Judy easily lays out the ingredients you need, has easy to read preparation instructions and directions for cooking each of her recipes. Some of the initial recipes that I chose to cook from her book veered towards dishes that I personally love ordering at a Korean restaurant or they were hot dishes; perfect for warming one up during the cold winters here in Edmonton. 
ingredients needed for making the Haemul Buchim (Seafood Fritters) from Korean Food Made Simple
One of my favourite recipes that I have made again and again from her cookbook are the Seafood Fritters (Haemul Buchim). These are little fritters that are filled with pieces of crab, shrimp and bound together with egg and rice flour. The best thing: they are quick to whip up and make the perfect appetizer or snack when you are hungry (which is often the case for me!). These Seafood Fritters (page 53) are made with pieces of crab sticks, de-veined halved shrimp, sliced green onions, eggs, rice flours, salt and pepper. The accompanying pancake dipping sauce that is key! A simple combination of just the right amount of soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, crushed sesame seeds and scallions. Her recipe calls for gochugaru (Korean chile flakes) but since I didn’t have that, I added in sriracha in its place – which is not the same, but worked in a pinch.
ingredients all mixed into a bowl for the seafood fritters

seafood fritters, japchae and more from Korean Food Made Simple from Judy Joo

Japchae – Stir Fried Sweet Potato Noodles (page 120) is another one of my favourite dishes. It is made with sweet potato noodles and mixed with a sauce of sugar, sesame oil, and soy sauce. This noodle dish has many ingredients and steps. However, Judy makes it easy to follow by splitting up all the ingredients separately and giving specific instructions for each area. For example, instead of one or two paragraphs describing the entire recipe, she breaks up the noodles, eggs, shrimp, veggies, sauce and even serving instructions into individual paragraphs. I did find this particularly recipe slightly labour intensive as you need to cook the noodles, eggs, shrimp and veggies separately as they each have different cooking times. Then, after everything is cooked, you stir fry and toss everything together. This is similar to how most cantonese style stir-frys are done, but since I wasn’t quite familiar with her particular process I needed to make sure I read all the instructions thoroughly before following them. Regardless, the resulting Japchae was delicious and tasted exactly as if you ordered it at a Korean restaurant. 

Ingredients for JapChae

The Finished Japchae topped with shrimp, eggs, green onions, carrots

A dish that caught my eye while I was flipping through the cookbook was her recipe titled Mom’s BBQ Chicken (Umma’s Dak Gogi). Umma means Mom in Korean, and this is Judy Joo’s Mom’s recipe for BBQ chicken (page 174). In her book she talks about how it is “the stuff of legends” so I certainly wanted to make this recipe for ourselves. First I sliced up the chicken into pieces, then I marinated the chicken in the sauce. You can find the recipe here.
chicken marinating

Unfortunately, since we didn’t have a BBQ we had to improvise. We preheated our dutch oven in the oven and once it was hot we carefully assembled the chicken pieces using tongs (along with the sauce) into the hot dutch oven and baked the in the oven at 375F. Still following her instructions, about 15 minutes into baking we took the reserve marinade that we had cooked down and glazed the chicken pieces. We served the BBQ chicken with Korean sticky rice and the Doenjang Mayonnaise dipping sauce that she suggested. 
finished BBQ korean chicken finished in the dutch oven
Lastly, a dish I often order at Korean restaurants is Goong Joong Ddukbokki (Thinly Sliced Beef with Rice Cakes). On the day that I decided to make this dish the Korean store that I was purchasing the bulgogi from had made fresh dduk (rice cakes)! Rice cakes can be used fresh or frozen but fresh tastes better but can be rare to find. To marinate the bulgogi the secret ingredient is an asian pear. This helps to not only give a slight sweetness to the meat but also helps to make the bulgogi softer.
marinating bulgogi meat with black sesame, soy sauce and other ingredients in a glass bowl

This dish followed that of a traditional stir fry. I cooked down the onions and then added in the mushrooms and carrots. After those were all slightly soft, I added in the bulgogi beef and then finally the rice cakes. Total cooking time was approximately 20 minutes.

korean sticky rice cakes
Ultimately, it goes without saying that I have really enjoyed cooking with Judy Joo through her recipes. I also love the fact that every single recipe has a picture showing the final product that helps you see what you’re trying to achieve. It’s also a given that Korean food can be highly subjective, sort of like how comfort food can be made in different ways. With the pictures and the clear instructions she truly makes it easy and accessible to cook Korean food at home.
Korean Food Made Simple
Judy Joo
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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