Do You Like Korean Food - Bae Chu Kim Chi -The Original Kim Chi Recipe

[caption id="attachment_862" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Bae Chu Kim Chee"][/caption]

I love Korean food! I must admit that I never ate Korean food until I went to college in downtown Los Angeles in an area very close to many Asian communities like San Pedro and Monterey Park. The closest Asian district to where I went to school was along Vermont Ave in Los Angeles and here I found China Town, Korea Town, Viet Nam Town, etc. You just name it and there as an Asian "Town" to be found and along with that the foods that came along with them.

I stayed in the dorms at the college that I attended and I had a Korean room mate. His name was Suk Yi, and it was Suk Yi that introduced me to Korean food. I would go to dinner at his family home in San Pedro and eat dishes like Bulgogi, Ox Tail/Bone soup ( Seolleongtang), All kinds of dumplings (Mandu), Korean style sushi (Kimbap) and every manner of food that his family would make. I didn't find one thing that I didn't love to eat! One of the foods that  Suk Yi introduced me to was Kim Chee/Kim Chi.

The first time Suk Yi made Kim Chee/KimChi for me, it was to believe it or not help me quit smoking. I was a champion wrestler in high school and a champion fencer in college, but through the years I also smoked cigarettes of various American and European brands. It got to the point that I wanted my wind back. I was coughing all the time and I didn't like what I saw coming out of my lungs. Suk Yi made Kim Chee/Kim Chi for me. It wasn't made from cabbage however. This Kim Chee/Kim Chi recipe was made strictly with garlic and Korean coarse chili powder.

Suk Yi made this Kim Chi recipe with garlic cloves split longwise, soy sauce and really, really hot Korean coarse ground chili pepper powder and let it stand on the kitchen counter for about five days until the split garlic cloves turned black. The first day I tried it Suk Yi told me to eat two pieces a day and work my way up to four and this Kim Chi recipe would help me to quit smoking. So, I took a split clove and ate the two pieces at one time. It was garlicky and delicious! It went down nice and easy. If any of you out there have ever eaten a garlic clove then you know what happened next. The garlic hit bottom and I kind of felt it explode in my stomach and then a big exhaling WHOOSH! of air got expelled from my lungs. It took a couple of breaths to get my wind back. Suk Yi told me one month of this and I wouldn't be smoking anymore.

Let me tell you that within that month this Kim Chi recipe had me expelling tar from my lungs that was quite visible. I swear in a month and a half I wasn't smoking anymore and it has been that way ever since. At this point is when I got into eating lots of different Asian foods and Suk Yi would take me shopping in Korean supermarkets, and take me to his home for dinner with his family. It was at this time in my life that Suk Yi taught me how to  make Bae Chu Kim Chi. He explained to me that this is the core basic Korean Kim Chi recipe that all others are based on and that there were as many variations of this Kim Chi recipe as there are families in Korea!

Suk Yi also explained to me that Kim Chi is literally the national food of Korea and that it is made in the late fall in Korea at time called "Kimjang." This is when Kim Chi is put in earthenware pots and placed in the ground to ferment. I was in a Kim Chi making mode this week and I decided to share with you the Bae Chu Kim Chi recipe that Suk Yi shared with me 25yrs ago!



The ingredients:

1 head of Napa cabbage

3 bulbs of garlic to start with or more if you prefer. I used between 8 and 12 most of the time. It is taste preference.

1 piece of ginger 2 to 3 inches cut up  into small pieces for the blender/food processor.

1/4 cup fish sauce.

2 bunches of scallions.

1 cup coarse ground Korean chili pepper.

2 Tsp. sugar.

1 Tsp. sesame oil.

1 Tbsp. rice vinegar.

1/2 of large Asian radish. (Daikon)

1 Tbsp. rice flour or AP flour if you don't have rice flour.

1 1/2 cups salt.

The Steps:

1. Cut Napa cabbage in half the long way.

2. Remove the stem at bottom with small knife and a "V" cut. Then cut the halves into quarters.

3. Cut up each quarter into 1 and 2 inch strips. I use a slightly diagonal cut.

4. Take a large pot and fill with some water, the pot should be able to hold at least a gallon of water.

5. Add 4 to 5 ounces of salt and mix until salt is dissolved in water.

6. Put cut up cabbage into the pot and add water to just cover the cabbage.

7. Press cabbage down into water and cabbage will begin to soften fairly quickly.

8. Cover pot and let stand with cabbage in it for 1 to 2 hours. I like 2 hours but I have let it go as long as 4 hours.

9. About half way through the soaking add your scallions and make sure they are cut up into 1 inch pieces or longer if you wish.

10. After you let the cabbage soak for however long you choose it is time to strain it and squeeze it.

11. Pour cabbage into a collander and strain it. Wash off excess salt and squeeze out excess water gently. Let cabbage stand for 20 minutes.

12. While the cabbage is resting it is time to make the rice flour glue that allows the ingredients to stick to the Kim Chi.

The Rice Flour Glue:

1. 1 Tbsp. of rice flour. If you don't have rice flour you can use AP flour and it will work the same way.

2. Put the rice flour in a sauce pan with 1/2 cup water and medium to medium  high heat and bring to a boil and let it thicken. Stir constantly. When mixture can stick to the spoon it is ready to let cool.  While the rice flour glue is cooling it is time to make the Korean chili paste mixture.

Korean Chili Paste Mixture:

1. Take the garlic, ginger, Asian radish, and blend in food processor or blender until it is a pulpy liquid consistency. (This step is done

While the rice flour glue is cooling down)

2. Take Korean chili powder, sugar, fish sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar and mix all these ingredients up in a bowl.

3. Now take the garlic, ginger, radish mixture and add it to the chili paste mixture in previous step and mix it up well. Now you will have a red Korean chili powder paste.

Final Steps:

Rinse out the large pot that you used for soaking the cabbage.

Now take some of the cabbage that has been standing/straining and make a layer of cabbage at the bottom of the large pot you used to soak it in.

Put a couple of spoonfuls of the Korean chili paste mix on top and mix together with your hands. Make sure all the cabbage is covered.

Repeat this step of making cabbage layers and then putting chili paste on top of each layer and mixing until all the ingredients are used.

Then perform one final mix of the cabbage and paste to make sure everything is completely covered.

When done put all of your Kim Chi into an air tight jar. I have found that a 2 quart jar is just right for one large head of Napa cabbage.

Put the jar in a cool place on a counter top somewhere for about 2 to 3 days to allow the fermentation to take place. Make sure no sunlight gets to the jar.

At end of 2 or 3 days you may see some bubbling happening and that's fine, that is the fermentation process. Put Kim Chi in the fridge.

This will last for up to 2 months in the fridge, but I think it will not last that long once you start eating it!

The Final Product:

When you serve this you can put it on the plate with your food or in a separate bowl as with the pic at the beginning of this post. Add a dash of sesame oil for a nutty flavor and sprinkle some raw or toasted sesame seeds on top and serve! Kim Chi goes great with rice, noodles, beef, chicken just about anything can be perked up with Kim Chi!

[caption id="attachment_891" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Jar Of Bae Chu Kim Chi"][/caption]