The Amazing Kimchi Kimchee - a Korean passion - 1.8
Kimchi Kimchee - a Korean passion
The speciality of Korea that you find everywhere is ‘Kimchi’. Kimchi may be mentioned many times in this book and it is unavoidable. It is like writing a book about England without mentioning football, pubs and London - or writing about America and not mentioning the ‘B’ word - Bush or baseball - or writing about the French and how much they hate visitors speaking English rather than French in their country. Kimchi is readily available in Korean supermarkets in large containers and in many varieties. Many Koreans eat Kimchi at every meal including breakfast so it must be something special.
What is this food that Koreans, when they go abroad, miss more than even their own family and friends? What is this phenomenon called Kimchi? What is this food that leaves Koreans panging with desire when they are without it? What is this food that families come together to make once a year? What is Kimchi?
Kimchi is a food used as a side dish and sometimes as a main ingredient in Korean food. The main ingredients of Kimchi are:
KIMCHIFermented cabbage (Chinese cabbage is the main ingredient: (instead of Chinese cabbage, radish or cucumber or bean sprouts can be used) to this the following are added - Salt, red pepper, salted baby shrimps, fresh ginger, garlic, spring onions, chives, fresh oyster, red pepper thread, minari (it is an aromatic plant which has western equivalent, its botanical name is oenanthe stolonifera) stems. |
This is the basic version, but there are an infinite number of other varieties of Kimchi in which other vegetables are used instead of cabbage. For example, there is one with bean sprouts, with cucumber and radish. There is also white Kimchi, made with cabbage but without red pepper. All these are on display in every supermarket, along with other ready made Korean specialities, such as Korean pancakes, cold glass noodles, cooked vegetables, sautéed mushrooms etc.
