Kimjang, Making and Sharing Kimchi - EP.02
[Special Online Korean Cuisine Cooking Series]
“Kimjang, Making and Sharing Kimchi with Chef Hooni Kim”
- Episode #2. “Kkakdugi & Chonggak Kimchi” -
The Korean Cultural Center New York (KCCNY) is excited to present an online Korean Cuisine Cooking Series “Kimjang, Making and Sharing Kimchi” introducing various Korean kimchi currently popular around the world. Chef Hooni Kim, Owner and Chef of Danji, Meju restaurants, and Little Banchan Shop in New York, will demonstrate how everyone can make kimchi at home with various ingredients with techniques!
As part of the Korean food culture education program, KCCNY is launching 4 episodes that feature easy-to-follow kimchi recipes.
For Episode 2, Chef Hooni Kim shares recipes and tips for the diced radish kimchi and ponytail radish kimchi. Kkakdugi, or diced radish kimchi, is a variety of kimchi in Korean cuisine. Usually, Korean radish is used, but other vegetables or fruits can also be used. Kkakdugi is also a popular banchan (side dish).
Chonggak kimchi, also called ponytail radish kimchi, is a variety of kimchi made with white radish. It is a small radish with many fine roots of which the entire plant, including the leaves and stems, is used in Korean cuisine.
* Kimjang is an annual preparation and preservation of kimchi in the winter season. Kimchi, a fermented vegetable dish, is a traditional Korean dish that is now enjoyed worldwide. Accompanying almost every meal, kimchi has many variations and forms and is known for its high nutritional value and many scientifically proven health benefits. Regions, temperatures, and other environmental conditions have led to the creation of more than 100 different types of kimchi. The most common types of kimchi served are baechu (napa cabbage) kimchi and kkakdugi (radish) kimchi.
This special cooking series is the third online cooking lecture program following KCCNY's “New Korean Cuisine Made Simple” and “Soul Food: Exploring Korean Street Food.”
Kkakdugi & Chonggak Kimchi
(Radish Kimchi)
[RECIPE]
INGREDIENTS
[Kkakdugi]
3 pounds of Korean large radishes (“mu”), peeled and diced into bite sized cubes
2 cups coarse salt (*Preferably from the Andes or Himalayan Mountains)
2 cups sugar
8 cups spring water
[Chonggak (Altari / Ponytail radish / Bachelor radish)]
18 4" to 5" ponytail radishes (chonggak), about 3 pounds cut in half lengthwise
2 cups coarse salt (*Preferably from the Andes or Himalayan Mountains.)
2 cups sugar
8 cups spring water
MARINADE
4 cups gochugaru (Korean red chili flakes)
½ cup dashima stock (kelp, dried mushroom and anchovy)
½ cup sweet glutinous rice flour
2 cups spring water
½ cup pureed salted shrimp
1 cup pureed white onion
3 cups pureed Asian pear
2 heads garlic, peeled, minced
2 teaspoons minced ginger
¼ cup anchovy sauce or ½ cup fish sauce
CLEAN & BRINE Radish
1. Peel the radish and trim the leafy stem to keep a length twice the size of the actual radish.
2. Put the salt and sugar in a small bowl and rub the radishes in the salt and put them in a covered container at room temperature.
3. The radishes will release their liquid, forming a brine with the seasoning.
4. After 12 hours, mix again.
5. Brine in mixture for 48 hours for the ponytail radishes or 24 hours for the cubed Korean radish.
6. Rinse the radishes off with cold spring or filtered water and drain dry in a colander for 20 minutes.
PREPARING MARINADE
1. The same day you start the brine, make the marinade.
2. Combine the gochugaru and the dashima stock in a large non-reactive bowl and stir to blend. Cover and let it hydrate for 2 hours at room temperature.
3. After this time it will form a paste-like texture.
4. When the gochugaru paste is ready, combine the spring water and rice flour in a small pot set over low heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Whisk occasionally so the flour doesn’t burn at the bottom of the pot.
6. Once the mixture becomes thick and pasty and begins to look like Elmer’s glue, remove from heat and whisk well to blend.
7. Add it to the bowl of hydrated gochugaru paste and then add the salted shrimp puree, white onion puree, Asian pear puree, garlic, ginger, and anchovy or fish sauce.
8. Mix well to combine. Cover this marinade mixture and keep in the refrigerator until the radishes are ready.
MAKING KIMCHI
1. Wearing gloves, put the brined radishes in a large bowl and add the marinade.
2. Mix well.
3. Transfer to airtight containers, preferably glass mason jars, and refrigerate.
4. Put each jar in a black plastic bag or wrap them in aluminum foil to help the fermentation process by blocking out sunlight and keeping the temperature more constant.
5. The kimchi is ready to serve in 21-30 days.
**Tips from Chef Hooni Kim**
Taste the kimchi after 10 days. It should still be flat, yet full-flavored. The garlic and onion flavors will still taste raw.
Try it again after 20 days. By now fermentation should have begun. The salty, spicy, and slightly sour flavors will be present and balanced. It will have a longer finish and a deeper taste. The radishes will still have their original spicy flavor. On top of that, the combination of the fermentation and the marinade gives this kimchi a multidimensional, dynamic flavor unlike any pickle I have ever tried.
You can enjoy it for up to 3-6 months after its maturation, just make sure you keep it on the bottom shelf and in the back corner of your refrigerator to keep its temperature constant.
BIOS
Chef Hooni Kim
Chef Hooni Kim trained at Daniel and Masa before opening Danji, the first Michelin-starred Korean restaurant in the world. This year he opened Meju, a Korean fermentation restaurant and Little Banchan Shop, a retail Korean ingredient and prepared foods boutique in LIC, NY. Chef Hooni is the author of My Korea: Traditional Flavors Modern Recipes published in 2020 by W.W. Norton. Born in Seoul, he divides his time between New York City and Korea, where he is the founder of Yori Chunsa, a nonprofit that feeds and trains orphans to become cooks.