Kimjang, Making and Sharing Kimchi - EP.04
[Special Online Korean Cuisine Cooking Series]
“Kimjang, Making and Sharing Kimchi with Chef Hooni Kim”
- Episode #4: “Kohlrabi Kimchi” -
The Korean Cultural Center New York (KCCNY) is excited to present an online Korean Cuisine Cooking Series “Kimjang, Making and Sharing Kimchi” introducing various Korean kimchi currently popular around the world. Chef Hooni Kim, Owner and Chef of Danji, Meju restaurants, and Little Banchan Shop in New York, will demonstrate how everyone can make kimchi at home with various ingredients with techniques!
As part of the Korean food culture education program, KCCNY is launching 4 episodes that feature easy-to-follow kimchi recipes.
For Episode 4, the last episode of this series, Chef Hooni Kim shares recipes and tips for a unique kimchi. The previous episodes featured traditional Korean vegetables, but this final recipe uses a more local ingredient: kohlrabi.
* Kimjang is an annual preparation and preservation of kimchi in the winter season. Kimchi, a fermented vegetable dish, is a traditional Korean dish that is now enjoyed worldwide. Accompanying almost every meal, kimchi has many variations and forms and is known for its high nutritional value and many scientifically proven health benefits. Regions, temperatures, and other environmental conditions have led to the creation of more than 100 different types of kimchi. The most common types of kimchi served are baechu (napa cabbage) kimchi and kkakdugi (radish) kimchi.
This special cooking series is the fourth online cooking lecture program following KCCNY's “New Korean Cuisine Made Simple” and “Soul Food: Exploring Korean Street Food.”
Kohlrabi Kimchi
[RECIPE]
INGREDIENTS
5 pounds of kohlrabi, peeled and diced into bite sized cubes
2 cups coarse salt (*Preferably from the Andes or Himalayan Mountains)
1 cup sugar
8 cups spring water
MARINADE
4 cups gochugaru (Korean red chili flakes)
½ cup dashima stock (kelp, dried anchovy)
½ cup sweet glutinous rice flour
2 cups spring water
½ cup pureed salted shrimp
1 cup radish, julienned
½ cup scallion,cut batons
1 cup pureed white onion
3 cups pureed Asian pear
1 cup pureed apple
2 heads garlic, peeled, minced
2 teaspoons minced ginger
¼ cup anchovy sauce or ½ cup fish sauce
CLEAN & BRINE
1. Peel the kohlrabi and cut into large dice shaped squares.
2. Put the salt and sugar in a small bowl and rub the kohlrabi in the salt/sugar and put them in a covered container at room temperature.
3. The kohlrabi will release their liquid, forming a brine with the seasoning.
4. After 12 hours, mix again.
5. Brine in mixture for 24 hours.
6. Rinse the kohlrabi off with cold spring or filtered water and drain dry in a colander for 20 minutes.
PREPARING MARINADE
1.The same day you start the brine, make the marinade.
2. Combine the gochugaru and the dashima stock in a large non-reactive bowl, stir to blend, cover and let it hydrate for 2 hours at room temperature.
3. After this time it will form a paste-like texture.
4. When the gochugaru paste is ready, combine the spring water and rice flour in a small pot set over low heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Whisk occasionally so the flour doesn’t burn at the bottom of the pot.
6. Once the mixture becomes thick and pasty and begins to look like Elmer’s glue, remove from heat and whisk well to blend.
7. Add it to the bowl of hydrated gochugaru paste and then add the salted shrimp puree, white onion puree, Asian pear puree, garlic, ginger, and anchovy or fish sauce.
8. Mix well to combine. Cover this marinade mixture and keep in the refrigerator until the kohlrabi are ready.
MAKING KIMCHI
1. Put the brined kohlrabi in a large bowl and add the marinade.
2. Mix well.
3. Transfer to airtight containers, preferably glass mason jars, and refrigerate.
4. Put each jar in a black plastic bag or wrap them in aluminum foil to help the fermentation process by blocking out sunlight and keeping the temperature more constant.
5. The kimchi is ready to serve in 21-30 days.
**Tips from Chef Hooni Kim**
Taste the kimchi after 14 days. It should still be flat, yet full-flavored. The garlic and onion flavors will still taste raw. Try it again after 21 days. By now fermentation should have begun. The salty, spicy, and slightly sour flavors will be present and balanced. It will have a longer finish and a deeper taste. The kohlrabi will still have their original sweet flavor but with a multi-dimensional kick.
BIOS
Chef Hooni Kim
Chef Hooni Kim trained at Daniel and Masa before opening Danji, the first Michelin-starred Korean restaurant in the world. This year he opened Meju, a Korean fermentation restaurant and Little Banchan Shop, a retail Korean ingredient and prepared foods boutique in LIC, NY. Chef Hooni is the author of My Korea: Traditional Flavors Modern Recipes published in 2020 by W.W. Norton. Born in Seoul, he divides his time between New York City and Korea, where he is the founder of Yori Chunsa, a nonprofit that feeds and trains orphans to become cooks.