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Cucumber kimche
Apr. 11th, 2005 11:55 am(This recipe comes from a small mom-n-pop bulgogi house in Kunsan city, Korea. A friend went to work there part-time just to learn the recipe.)
While fermented cabbage is what most people think of when you refer to kimche, the word is a sort of blanket term for any and all pickled vegetables. While still strong, and still kimche, cucumber kimche is a sort of instant pickle that is much kinder to the western palate than the admittedly aggressive fermented cabbage. It is great as a snack or a side dish for any rice based dish, but not something to eat prior to a hot date. This, mixed with a bowl of rice and topped with a fried egg, is a great breakfast for the adventurous.
One large cucumber, cut into carrot-stick sized strips. (I use the long english hothouse cucumbers, not short, lumpy american pickling cucumbers.) If you use an american cucumber, you will want to use two, and you may want to peel and seed them, as the skins are bitter. The koreans do not peel and seed cucumbers, and I tend to find it unnecessary as well.
Two scallions, diced. If you can get them from an asian grocery, do. They are much stronger.
A clove of garlic, minced. If you can get it, use the red korean garlic, and perhaps you should cut back to half a clove.
A tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds.
1/2 teaspoon to 3/4 teaspoon of coarse kosher or rock salt. (Or more to your taste. Be careful of the salt. (More on that later)
1 Teaspoon of red pepper flakes. There is a very specific Korean dried red-chili called gochokaru or gochujang. If you can find it, use it. It alters the entire flavor of the dish, and is more authentic. It will also turn the pickle redder over time, while normal dried chili will not. But barring that, the version made with normal dried chili tastes just fine.
A few drops of toasted sesame oil.
Chop it all up, and toss it all together in a bowl. Taste. It should be mildly salted. If you are like me, you are going to eat half of this right now, while watching television, and drinking a soda. You might be tempted to salt it more. Don't do this. Get out an individual portion and salt that to taste. As the kimche sits, the salt will pull the liquid from the cucumbers, and make a strong brine that seems to get saltier with time. If you salt the kimche too much, within a few days, it will be too salty to eat. If this happens, add it to an asian stew, and let it salt the soup.
When you have eaten all you want, seal this in an air-tight container, (if you don't use an air-tight container, it'll make the milk go sour. Seriously, it's strong stuff.) It will keep forever. (Several months.) In antiquity, this was sealed in a jar and buried in the ground three feet deep for a anywhere from a week to a month to all winter. The ground stays at 52 degrees Fahrenheit all year, the result is similar to keeping it in a root-cellar. Since most of us have refrigerators, we can keep it in there and there is no need to bury it.
You are going to want to eat it or throw it away or use it in soup before a week though, because soon kimche will take over the entire fridge. (This is why I've given you the "small" recipe. A larger recipe would conquer your fridge quickly, your neighborhood in a week, and within a month, be the head of an empire that stretches from Philadelphia to West Memphis.)
While fermented cabbage is what most people think of when you refer to kimche, the word is a sort of blanket term for any and all pickled vegetables. While still strong, and still kimche, cucumber kimche is a sort of instant pickle that is much kinder to the western palate than the admittedly aggressive fermented cabbage. It is great as a snack or a side dish for any rice based dish, but not something to eat prior to a hot date. This, mixed with a bowl of rice and topped with a fried egg, is a great breakfast for the adventurous.
One large cucumber, cut into carrot-stick sized strips. (I use the long english hothouse cucumbers, not short, lumpy american pickling cucumbers.) If you use an american cucumber, you will want to use two, and you may want to peel and seed them, as the skins are bitter. The koreans do not peel and seed cucumbers, and I tend to find it unnecessary as well.
Two scallions, diced. If you can get them from an asian grocery, do. They are much stronger.
A clove of garlic, minced. If you can get it, use the red korean garlic, and perhaps you should cut back to half a clove.
A tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds.
1/2 teaspoon to 3/4 teaspoon of coarse kosher or rock salt. (Or more to your taste. Be careful of the salt. (More on that later)
1 Teaspoon of red pepper flakes. There is a very specific Korean dried red-chili called gochokaru or gochujang. If you can find it, use it. It alters the entire flavor of the dish, and is more authentic. It will also turn the pickle redder over time, while normal dried chili will not. But barring that, the version made with normal dried chili tastes just fine.
A few drops of toasted sesame oil.
Chop it all up, and toss it all together in a bowl. Taste. It should be mildly salted. If you are like me, you are going to eat half of this right now, while watching television, and drinking a soda. You might be tempted to salt it more. Don't do this. Get out an individual portion and salt that to taste. As the kimche sits, the salt will pull the liquid from the cucumbers, and make a strong brine that seems to get saltier with time. If you salt the kimche too much, within a few days, it will be too salty to eat. If this happens, add it to an asian stew, and let it salt the soup.
When you have eaten all you want, seal this in an air-tight container, (if you don't use an air-tight container, it'll make the milk go sour. Seriously, it's strong stuff.) It will keep forever. (Several months.) In antiquity, this was sealed in a jar and buried in the ground three feet deep for a anywhere from a week to a month to all winter. The ground stays at 52 degrees Fahrenheit all year, the result is similar to keeping it in a root-cellar. Since most of us have refrigerators, we can keep it in there and there is no need to bury it.
You are going to want to eat it or throw it away or use it in soup before a week though, because soon kimche will take over the entire fridge. (This is why I've given you the "small" recipe. A larger recipe would conquer your fridge quickly, your neighborhood in a week, and within a month, be the head of an empire that stretches from Philadelphia to West Memphis.)
