A friend sent me this recipe.
I’m not sure where to get Korean chili powder. (I can ask a Korean coworker.) I assume I can get daikon radish from Pike Place.
Questions:
Does the recipe scale? Two quarts is a bit much for one person. I’m thinking one quart would be better.
What is a ‘cool place’? Temps should be lower this week, but by the time I actually get round to making it, who knows? I don’t have a/c, so the temperature in the house is what it is.
My house probably gets over 80°F sometimes, and in my experience, it still comes out pretty good. I think it just ferments quicker. I’m not a connoisseur, but I’ve never had a batch that came out bad. I usually just use whatever chili powder/crushed chilis that I have lying around (usually Mexican).
I’m not sure about the scaling. I usually make mine in a gallon jar with a full head of napa cabbage.
Red pepper flakes are easily available, as are dried chilis that can be crushed. If you say it works, I may try them.
How long does your full recipe last?
Wait, aren’t you supposed to bury a kimchee jar?
I have gotten Korean chili powder at a store near me. It was the same as regular dried red chili pepper, though with fewer seeds. There’s a store near your park ‘n’ ride, where they sell that and the daikon, called HT Market at 100th & Aurora (Oak Tree), and one called Oriental Grocery at 155th & Aurora.
Thanks, needscoffee! Sounds nice and convenient! 
It starts going south in maybe 3 weeks. It helps if you can give some away. Also, if you stick in the fridge right when it gets sour, it’ll last longer.
It doesn’t really go bad so much as gets more sour and mushier. When that happens, make a big batch of Spam and kimchee fried rice. This is way more delicious than it sounds.
The ideal temperature for fermentation is 55° F, so burying it is an excellent way to achieve this. I am reminded though, of the classic MASH episode in which Frank Burns saw the locals burying a kimchi pot in the compound and thought they were burying a bomb. Might not want to let that nosy neighbor see what you’re doing, lest you get a knock on the door from some Homeland Security goons. Affluent Koreans now have dedicated kimchi fridges. They cost upwards of $2000, and having one is considered quite the status symbol. I’ve heard recommendations that the same thing can be achieved by putting it in one of those tabletop refrigerators and turning it to its lowest setting.
I remember a market in the I-District, attached to the Kinokuyana bookstore, that had a huge kimchi department. I’d be surprised if they didn’t have the chili powder you wanted.
From the recipe:
Damn, that guy must really like weak kimchi.
They also definitely have it at Aurora Asian Market at 152nd and Aurora.
I think that’s the same store as Oriental Grocery Store. I got a giant bag of the pepper there once. It also happens to be a few doors down from where I get halo-halo (yum). There’s a new restaurant in the parking lot, Casper’s, I think is the name, that serves alligator meat. It was interesting, but kind of tough.
No one buries their kimchee anymore. We just left it out for a bit then stuck it in the fridge.
If it gets too fermented for your tastes, use it for fried rice, stew, or kimchee pancakes.
Yeah, if it gets too fermented, make sure you make some kimchi jjigae with it, one of my favorite soups/stews in the world. Love that stuff! It’s supposed to be made with older kimchi, as I understand it, and whenever I go to the kimchi store, I specifically ask for the extra ripe kimchi for this dish.
Oh, and I would make the whole two quarts. Now, granted, I like my kimchi, but I can get through a gallon batch of kimchi by myself in two weeks. Even so, it’ll last for quite a while in your fridge.
The grind of the pepper is considered crucial, according to everything I’ve ever read or been told. I can’t read Korean, but look at the four characters on this package, between the green portion of the label and the words ‘red pepper powder.’ From what I understand, this is a coarse grind. This is what I’ve been emphatically told should be used. I’m sure you could find this in about two seconds on Amazon, but you’ll most likely pay more for shipping than you do for the product.
I recently conducted my first attempt at homemade kimchi, and was sorely disappointed with the results. I followed a recipe that I found that called for taking an apple, a pear, and a sweet onion and pureeing them all in a blender and using it as the brine base. I thought it totally ruined the flavor and wound up tossing most of it. I’m going to try again soon, but for now I’m just buying commercially prepared kimchi. The stuff is dirt cheap (about 10 – 15 dollars) if you buy the huge 120-ounce jars at the Korean markets in Reseda. That sounds like a lot, but I eat it almost every day and can dispatch one of those bad boys in about a month. I just love the stuff, and it’s a great way to get your veggies without having to make a salad or get out the steamer. My favorite brand hands down is Cosmos. I’m going to try to duplicate their taste and texture next time I try my hand at homemade.
Yes, that’s HT Market, at Oak Tree Village. I was unclear in that post. HT Market PROBABLY has the chili; I haven’t looked for it there. It has pretty much everything Asian, and tons of other nationalities’ food. And bahn mi, etc.
The one at 152/155th & Aurora definitely has it, as I’ve bought it there and cckerberos’ link confirms it. It’s the last store at the south end of the strip mall.
Is one teaspoon of sugar really enough to ferment an entire gallon of kimchi?
I don’t see why not. You really don’t need any sugar–the vegetable itself should have plenty of fermentables in it. I haven’t made my own kimchi yet, but the recipes I have don’t have any sugar whatsoever. And when I do naturally fermented pickles, it’s just water, salt, pickling cukes, and spices. No sugar or anything.
When you make sauerkraut, you add only salt to the cabbage.
