How To: Make homemade kimchi

Kimchi can be spelled in a variety of ways (gimchi, kimchee, kim tee), but what is it exactly? It's a Korean pickled dish made with vegetables and varied seasonings, and it's the most common side dish in South Korea. In this video tutorial, you'll gain the recipe for making kimchi with cabbage, sea salt, mustard greens, garlic, and other great ingredients. See how to make it!

Nutritious cabbage, a fire-engine-red pepper paste and a few hours of brining result in an intensely flavorful kimchi. It's is a great condiment to serve with meats, especially pork, and adds a kick to soups and stews. Once you make a batch, it'll keep in the refrigerator or in a cool environment, ready to use whenever you want added texture and intensity to a meal.

INGREDIENTS:

* ¾ cup coarse sea salt
* 2 cups water (chlorine-free, if possible)
* 4 lbs vegetables: mostly Chinese cabbage, mustard greens, bok choy
* 1 head garlic, peeled
* 2 or 3 good-sized onion, peeled & halved
* 1" ginger root, peeled & chopped (a spoon works well for this)
* 1 cup red pepper powder (available at Korean and some other Asian markets)
* 2 tbsp sugar
* 1 small bunch scallion, sliced diagonally into 1" lengths

Special Equipment

* large mixing bowls
* 1-pint mason jars
* wooden spoons and/or slotted metal spoons

HOW-TO:

1. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve ¾ cup coarse sea salt in 2 cups of water to make a brine
2. Cut up all of the 4 lbs of vegetables. Cut the leafy vegetables into 1" square pieces. Peel root vegetables, and cut them in thin diagonal slices
3. Put the chopped vegetables into the brine and mix, using a big spoon or clean hands. Brining draws some of the water out of the vegetables, and helps to preserve their crispness. Cover the bowl to keep it free of foreign objects. Uncover it and stir it up every once in a while. After 6 hours, drain the vegetables and let them rest in a colander