Kimchi/Cheese Update

So both the kimchi and cheese came out amazing. Winning? You better believe it. Only problem with the cheese is you end up with a ton of leftover almost-yogurt cream stuff, but the next few days I'm going to be attempting to use it in various dishes and writing about how it came out (the most obvious use is just dumping it into fruit smoothies, which I have done, but that only uses so much. Meaning very little.). But I mixed in some salt and herbs-du-province, and the cheese is really fantastic. Could hard cheese be next? Stay tuned to find out.

But this post is only a little bit about cheese. Time for the kimchi!

1 Napa cabbage
1/6 cup of salt* (I know, see my notes below)
1 tbsp Soy sauce
1/8 cup of fish sauce
3/4 cup Korean chili powder (yeah, you actually need that much. sheesh.)
1 bunch scallions
a lot of garlic
ginger
some carrots (optional)



Cut up your cabbage and put it in a big bowl with the water and salt. Do this the night before, because you need to let it sit like that overnight. The next day, pull the cabbage out of the brine (keep the brine!!) and put it into another large bowl. In a small bowl, mix together the chili powder, soy sauce, and fish sauce to make a paste. Add the paste and the rest of the stuff (scallions, garlic, ginger, etc) to the cabbage. Mix all that together, then spoon the mixture into glass jars (pack it in!), and cover it with the brine. Now let it sit for at least 3-4 days, so it can ferment. After that time, keep checking on it; when it tastes good to you it's done. Leave it in the fridge after you open it.



The stuff I made is nice and spicy and tangy; it's obviously better than store-bought, it makes a TON*, and the ingredients are hella cheap. This kind of thing is a perfect work-snack (if your workmates don't mind the funky smell!), or as a healthy topping to rice and so on.

* If you read the original recipe, you'll notice I cut it in half. Take a look at the picture of the cabbage in that bowl and I think you'll be able to figure out why pretty quick. Another hint? That's literally the largest bowl in our apartment.