** Please make sure your kitchen utensils are clean and your hands washed)
1.6 kg chinese cabbage (halved, and washed)
200 -300 gm leeks (thin trips)
400 gm radish (cut into sticks)
3 - 4 carrots (julienned)
1 tbsp ginger paste
5 tbsp garlic paste
1.5 handful coarse salt
9 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp prawn paste, "har hou" (the kimchi school uses prawn powder)
17- 20 tbsp chilli flakes, depending on how red u want it to be (buy from korean supermarket)
1. Rub chinese cabbage leafs with salt. (evenly)
2. Allow to marinate for 3-4 hours, covered (room temperature), until soft.
3. Meanwhile mix fishsauce, prawn paste, garlic paste, ginger past and chilli flakes in a large bowl
4. Add in leeks, radish, carrots and marinate for also about 3-4 hours in room temperature.
5. After 4 hours, wash off excess salt from cabbage (i washed it two times), and gently squeeze out excess liquid. You may bite on one slice. It should not be too salty or it will not ferment well.
6. Add the cabbage into the large bowl with the radish and leeks and mix well.
7. Store the kimchee in a glass jar and cover it. Allow to ferment for 1 1/2 days (depending on how sour u want it to be. I like it at 1.5 days) at room temperature away from sunlight.
8. You may want to press the kimchi down a little with a clean wooden spoon in between (after about 12 hours or so)
9. Once ready, keep it in the chiller and it should last for about a week.
** if you let it ferment for more than 3 days... it may end up too sour (taste a bit like our local salted mustard) so i think, max should be 2 days.
Note : The korean chiili flake/powder i bought seems to leave a bitter aftertaste. I did it once by blending my own dried chilli and the color ended up much nicer and not bitter. I will post up on how to make the paste when i get the measurements right.
