Three Types of Kimchi

Finally, I tasted Kimchee or Kimchi, it's a little bit similar with my "Asinan Bogor" dish, they have the same taste, salty, sour, hot, and fresh. I like it.

Kimchee is a traditional dish from Korea. Korean people has been consumed Kimchee for more than 1700 years. Kimchee is one of the most famous Korean dishes. It made from fermented vegetables with many kind of seasonings.

There are many kind of Kimchee, for years, Korean prepared Kimchee for the winter season since they cannot cultivate crops during winter. During winter, most of the Kimchee are available since it is the most suitable time to consume Kimchee.

But you may enjoy Kimchee in other seasons like in summer you will have cucumber Kimchee and radish Kimchee and you may consume leafy vegetable Kimchee in spring season.

Most of the ingredients for making Kimchee are include ginger, salt, garlic, spring onion, vinegar, chilies, chilies pepper, salted fishes sauce and many more. The combination of those ingredients make a special taste for the Kimchee.

1. Baechu Kimchee

This is the most common kimchee type to have. You will find this type of Kimchee in every Korean dishes. The whole head of cabbage is trimmed to remove dirt and then divided into 2 or 4 pieces.

2. Chongkak Kimchee

This kimchee consist of radish and turnip greens.

3. Kat Dolsan Kimchee

Kimchee made from green mustard.

Ingredients :

3 Chinese cabbages
3 cups of salt
3 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp chili powder
1 cm ginger, grated
2 cloves garlic, mashed
1 watercress
1 shallot, sliced
1 radish, sliced thin
3 tbsp fish sauce
Water to soak


Direction :
1. Left intake the chinese cabbages wash with running water into each of its leaf. After the cabbages are clean, soak in the salt mixture (3 cups of salt + 10 cups of water) for about 6-8 hours.

2. After 6-8 hours, rinse the cabbage and wash again with running water to clean the remaining salt, wash into each cabbage leaf. Wait for them to dry a bit.  You may cut the cabbages into 2 or 4 pieces.

3. Mix the cabbages with all the seasonings. Mix together sugar, chili powder, ginger, garlic, watercress, shallot,radish, fish sauce and a little salt. Put the spices mix inside of each leaf then store in a large pot. Or Kimchee pot. On the top, cover cabbage with a leaf and sprinkle some salt. Put a heavy stone on top of the pot. Store in the container for about 2x24 hours until the spices soak into the cabbage. During that, do not store the cabbages in the refrigerator

If you like to have the maximum taste of Kimchee, you may store it a little bit longer, the more longer the better. After the Kimchee is done, you may store it in the refrigerator.

4. Kimchee is ready to serve, you can consume it right away or as a side dish. Or as an appertizer before the main course.

Tips :

1. Choose the good quality of chinese cabbage to get good quality and fresh Kimchee.

2. Do not use metal kitchen utensils. Metal will stimulate reaction with salt so it may affect the Kimchee taste.

3. Use ceramics pot to store the kimchee to get the delicious and maximum kimchee taste. You may also need to store kimche for weeks or even months to get the best result.

4. You may adjust the spices portion according to your own taste. For example, I don't like my kimchee tastes too salty and I prefer it more hot and sour.

I admire how Korean people honor their culture through their foods. They even have Kimchi Museum! I don't have any museum for any kind of Indonesian food.

Kimchi Museum, established in 1986 marks the traditional cuisine as the noble heritage of Korean culture. Kimchi Museum is a mission to introduce to the citizens of the world. Every part of the museum also displays that spirit of knowledge about Kimchi.

This museum consists of four exhibition spaces of kimchi contains of the history, types, how to produce and storage, and nutrient content. Numerous books and articles are also stored a long time about kimchi both inside the museum. In one room, visitors can see various types of kimchi and spices that distinguish it.

Address : Seoul-si Gangnam-gu Samseong-dong 159 COEX MALL B2

Open Hours:
Tuesday ~ Saturday - 10:00 ~ 17:00 (Enter until 16:30)
Sunday - 13:00 ~ 17:00 (enter until 16:30)
Closed: Every Monday, New Year (Jan., 1), Lunar New Year holidays (3 days), Harvest Moon Festival (3 days), Christmas

Admission:
Adults: 3,000 won or USD 3
Elementary/Junior, high school students: 2,000 won or USD 2
Children 4 years old and over: 1,000 won or USD 1

Directions: Subway line 2, Samseong Station, located in the second basement level of COEX Mall


The interesting part of the Kimchee making is that Korean used to make it together, with family member or neighbors. Although now that kind of activity is less popular due to the way of life, but the activity is still be held to maintain social relationship.