Time to Make the Kimchi

Last week in the garden we had three heads of Napa cabbage that had been just slightly frosted. The frost wasn't a big problem but three heads of cabbage for just two people was a lot. I made a big batch of Napa cabbage salad and then remembered something else. I had gotten John a kimchi kit for Christmas and since it's been sitting in the pantry for three years, it was time to finally use it. 

First, you cut up the cabbage into bite-size pieces and brine it in salt water for 1.5 hours. 

Then you drain it and rinse it well to get rid of any extra salt. 

While the cabbage is draining, you mix the packet of rice flour with 125 ml of water and cook it for a few minutes to basically make wallpaper paste. 

To the cooled rice flour concoction,  you add chopped ginger, onion, garlic, dried seaweed powder, and red pepper. This is supposed to make a thick paste that sticks to the cabbage pieces and allows it to ferment.

Then you just mix the rice flour paste and seasonings together with the cabbage, put it in a big bag to ferment in the refrigerator for a week or two, and voilà, you've made kimchi.

It helped to have everything in a little box so I didn't have to search for rice flour or seaweed powder. John loves kimchi, so we'll see what his verdict is in a week or two. At the very least, it used up plenty of Napa cabbage and hopefully produces something good to eat!