Country of origin: Korea
This dish is commonly combined with a bowl of rice and meat. Kimchi is fermented vegetables and soaked and lathered in different spices.
Ingredients;
Main Ingredients:
4 kg napa cabbage
16 cups Water
1.5 cups Korean course Sea Salt
0.5 cup Cooking Salt
Kimchi Seasoning:
2 Tbsp glutinous rice flour
1.5 cups water
1.5 cups gochugaru (Korean chili flakes)
19 ounces Korean radish or daikon radish
1 Tbsp fine sea salt
3.5 Tbsp Korean fish sauce
2 Tbsp salted fermented shrimp, minced
3.2 ounces Korean chives, cut in 5 cm / 2 inch length
4.9 ounces carrots
1/4 cup minced garlic
1/2 Tbsp minced ginger
2 Tbsp raw sugar
2.6 ounces onion, blended or finely grated
Growing up in a big family with different cultures and diversities, I often learned different dishes from all sides of my family and learned more about my culture and also grew closer with my family. One dish that holds a big place in my heart is kimchi, which was taught to me by my great grandmother, Annie Bernhardt.
My great grandma Annie immigrated to the United States from Korea in the 90’s with her children to seek better opportunities for her and her children. By spending 1/3 of my life at her house, I learned lots of new things about her and my family. My great grandmother, Annie, often showed affection through food. One of the first dishes that I remember my grandmother teaching me to cook was Kimchi.
Me and her would always go to the nearest Korean market, which was not near to my grandmother at all due to the fact that we had lived in a small town where the only other Asians in town were my cousins. When me and my grandma would make the kimchi, soaking the Napa Cabbage in the salt water and making sure that every inch of the cabbage had salt on it, I grew closer to my grandmother as she told me stories about her childhood.
Combining all of the spices and ingredients to make the kimchi seasoning, which includes: Radish, Fish sauce, the vividly green chives, garlic, ginger, sugar, onions and crisp carrots into the mixing bowl, the aroma of all of the ingredients and produce is engraved into my brain, as the the combination gochugaru (Red pepper paste) and fish sauce will continue to remind me of her, and the bond we made over the dish. Once the mixture is well combined, me and my grandma would split up the work and peel cabbage together. Once the cabbage was prepped and peeled was (In my opinion) when the fun started to happen. We would dig our freshly washed hands into the cold mixture and scoop it onto the cabbage and spread it into each layer of the cabbage. This was my favorite part as a kid because I didn't often get the chance to get messy and be dirty.
Once the mixture had been spread atop of the cabbage, we would firmly stuff the cabbage into an old jar that we often reused to make kimchi. We then would attempt to fit all of the kimchi jars in the fridge, which was always already full as my great grandmother had a food hoarding problem. When the kimchi was over and done with, my grandma and I would often make a big feast combined with rice, bulgogi, soondubu and more to enjoy with our kimchi. I think that enjoying the kimchi was something I enjoyed as a kid, but I truly believe that I loved spending time with my grandma in the kitchen more.
Making food with my grandmother was not only about the food itself, it represented who she is as a person and who I should become. My great grandmother would always say to me “Miah, You need to learn from me before I am gone”. She often said this in the kitchen setting, but now that I am older I have realized the true meaning behind her words. This saying that my grandmother constantly repeated often stayed in my mind and always made me appreciate my time with her and her wisdom she had to give, whether it was in the kitchen or overall about life.