Project Kimchi!

So now you know what secret project I've been working on :P

I've been looking through various recipes - recipe books, recipes on the web ...

Yes, that's where the term "julienne" came about ...

Anyway I finally decide to get down and do it, hence the explosive Chinchalok. You must be wondering, "Chinchalok with Kimchi? Huh?".

Well, based on my research as well as kimchi conversations with Liangxin (he spent quite a fair bit of time based in South Korea), I believe that the "better tasting" kimchi comes with a secret ingredient in the process - seafood. Some state prawn paste, oysters and anchovy paste.

As for the salting process, I decided to go with the brine method. It would provide an even distribution of salt and besides, all I needed to do was to make the salt solution and dump the veggies in, then cover with a plate to keep the veggies down. I think it was easier than trying to toss the veggies with the salt to distribute evenly or to painsakingly sprinkle salt in every layer of the veggies.

Since at least 2 of the recipes stated prawn paste which is same as salted prawns, I figured I could use Chinchalok instead. Reason being 1. Chinchalok ingredients are prawns and salt (therefore = salted prawns right?) 2. I would be very squeamish about salting raw prawns and mixing into the veggies to ferment together - fear factor images come into my mind! Chinchalok would be considered the safe choice it's already processed food.

As for the taste, hehe, sorry I won't know yet. It's worse than the 72 hours wait for the Kueh Lapis. This is going to take about 1 week.

It's strange though, when I mix the kimchi marinade/ seasoning without the veggies, it already smelt like kimchi. Though it smelt a bit strange after adding the Chinchalok!

For vegetarians, you can skip the prawns bit. Most of the packaged kimchis sold doesn't contain meat of any kind.

It wasn't very difficult to do. Serious!

My kimchi recipe (if you DARE to try) is in the next post with some pics.