Kimchi Experiment

If you're familiar with Korean food, you're well aware of the ever-popular staple food kimchi. Consider it the Korean french fries - a side of it comes with everything. Plus it's used as a main ingredient in a number of dishes like bibimbap and kimchichigae.

Yes, I do have a Hello Kitty toaster.

Kimchi tastes different depending on who made it (how it was prepared) and how old it is. You can eat it the day you make it (I don't think many people do) or a year later! It's designed to ferment, so it has a pretty good shelf life as long as you take care with storing it.

Most often it is made with cabbage, but you can make it with moo (Korean version of daikon) or even spring onion. Although cabbage kimchi is the most popular and widely used version. Even Korean schools serve it for lunch to kids of all ages. It can be made spicy or mild, and the recipe changes depending on who makes it. I've seen recipes made a number of different ways - from boiling the "sauce", to using seafood, blending your ingredients, etc.

As a fan of kimchi and a Korean woman, I decided it was time I give making it on my own a try. I read through no less than ten to twenty different recipes, trying to decide which would work best for me. I was looking for something fairly simple and one that used ingredients I would be able to find here in my hometown - land of the Pennsylvania Dutch, Amish, and pot roast. I decided upon a no- boil recipe I could make in my blender. All the ingredients could be blended and poured over the prepared cabbage.

After I had the batch completed, I felt pretty darn proud of myself. I had two mason jars full of cabbage and daikon kimchi. It smelled about right. I sealed the lids tightly, wrapped them in plastic wrap, and rubbernanded the plastic wrap around the kids (just in case). If you've never experienced kimchi, one thing you should know is that it has its own distinct smell. That smell will escape and take over your refrigerator if you aren't careful. I live in a one bedroom apartment with a small refrigerator, so I wanted to be very careful.

So here it sits. My kimchi. My first attempt at what is one of the cornerstones of Korean cuisine. I'm scared to open the jars. I can't work up the courage to even give it a whiff. What if it's terrible? What if I make absolutely horrible kimchi? This is what I fear, even more than the smell taking over my fridge. It has been at least six or seven weeks now, and I look at it every day. My boyfriend, who is currently away with the Army, will come home next Friday. He is quite excited to eat Asian food again and even more excited that one of those items will be kimchi. I'm hoping together we can give it a try! He is convinced it will be good. Until then, it seems like it's mocking me from its metal shelf in the middle of the refrigerator. "Hey, don't you want to try me?"