This is my first foray into kimchi making. The experience almost makes me an ahjuhma (a middle-aged mom). I just need to get a bad-ass perm to make it official. Anyway, I had a big round hunk of Korean radish and decided to try my hand at making kkakdugi (radish kimchi) which I think is the easiest kimchi to make.
Some people prefer “new” kimchi during the first week of fermentation, but I like mine to sit around for about 2-3 weeks when it’s good and sour. It’s perfect with dduk mandoo guk (see previous post) and perfect with sul-lang tang (bone soup…maybe a future post).
I referred to my trusty cookbook and made a few minor adjustments. The recipe called for 3 pounds of radish, but I think I only had about 1.5 pounds. Regardless, I still made the same amount of sauce the recipe called for. For the radish prep, the book called for artificial sweetener which I thought was odd, but I didn’t have any so I just used real sugar. And they also called for sweet rice paste in the sauce, but again, I just used sugar. The kkakdugi turned out fine.
Kkakdugi (radish kimchi)
3 pounds Korean radish
2 green onions, cut into 2-inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons salt
sauce:
1/2 cup red pepper powder
1/4 cup sugar (I had superfine sugar which dissolved pretty easily)
1 tablespoon ground salted shrimp (saewoo jjut)
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon finely minced fresh ginger
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
Cut the radish into 1-inch cubes. Put them in a large mixing bowl and sprinkle with salt and sugar. Mix well. Leave at room temperature for about 4 hours.
Mix all the sauce ingredients in a separate bowl. Drain the radish and add the sauce. Mix well and add the green onions and mix again. Put the finished kimchi in a jar or any container and close the lid tightly.
To quicken the fermenting process, leave it at room temperature for about 36 hours (yes, you read that correctly). I left mine out for 40 hours. After this, the kkakdugi must be refrigerated. Mine reached desired sourness in about 2-3 weeks.
Now I’d be scared to leave this out on the counter, say, in the middle of a Baltimore summer with no central air. San Francisco’s temperate climate is almost perfect for kimchi making. So, what is “room temperature”? It’s the temperature indicated by general human comfort, about 68°F to 77°F. Happy fermenting!
