Do Je-hae edits news stories as part of the AI team.
Kimchi - make or buy?
The finished product - my first radish kimchi / Korea Times photo by Do Je-hae
By Do Je-hae
I had a breakthrough in the kitchen a few weeks ago. I made cubed radish kimchi or“kkakdugi” for the first time.
I used to think that making kimchi was something only skilled housewives did. Making kimchi, which requires multiple processes, seemed like too much of a project for someone like myself who cooks to relax.
For those who like “hansik,” or Korean food, it’s very useful to have some kind of kimchi in the refrigerator because it is the essential ingredient for so many Korean dishes. Up until now, I bought cabbage and radish kimchi, or waited until mom offered some. But I decided not to spend money on buying after a series of disappointments, mostly because the store-bought kimchi didn’t have the taste I wanted. When making kimchi stew or fried rice, a cook needs a lot of kimchi. Because I was buying only small portions, I often ran out of kimchi.
A few weeks ago I suddenly got a taste for kimchi after watching a TV program. A cable channel series recently featured the newly-wedded bliss of the actress Ku Hye-sun and her actor husband Ahn Jae-hyun. In one of the segments, Ahn made ramen with “ponytail kimchi,” which is kimchi made with little radishes called “chonggakmu,” for a late night snack to enjoy with his wife. Since chonggakmu is harder to find than regular radishes, I decided to make kkakdugi instead.
For those who are torn between making or buying, here are some things to consider.
First, I want to first talk about the pros of making. Price wise, it is cheaper to make rather than buy. In the “banchan” or side dish section at a department store in my neighborhood, a mid-sized container of cubed radish kimchi cost 14,000 won. But I did not want to buy it because the radishes did not look very fresh and they did not have the thick coat of red pepper flakes and paste that make kkakdugi so delicious.
After seeing the unappealing display of kkakdugi, I drove my shopping cart to the vegetable section and picked out some radishes. I wasn’t sure how many cubes I would end up with, so I got two big radishes and ended up with much more than I expected. I paid about 10,000 won for two radishes, which were cut into four smaller pieces. With just three pieces, I ended up with two big containers and a small container of kkakdugi. This is slightly more than what one would need to pay at a regular grocery store for two radishes. I did not have to buy a lot of extra ingredients other than green onions. The essential ingredients such as salt, sugar, red pepper flakes, sweet rice powder for a thick rice mixture to go into the paste, onions, apples and garlic were already in my kitchen. If quantity is important to you, in addition to taste and freshness, it is better when making kimchi.
Now comes the bad part about making kimchi. It does take some hard labor. Cutting the radishes into little cubes takes quite a bit of time and can be monotonous. There is also some more cutting to do with other vegetables. After all the cutting, the muscles around my right wrist felt tight for a few days.
Getting the right texture and spice level of the red pepper mixture is also no easy task. My paste ended up being a little too sweet because I substituted sugar with maple syrup. The mixture for any dish is something that needs a lot of practice.
One of the worst aspects of cooking is that there is as lot of cleaning up to do during and after. Making kimchi is an all-day job that involves multiple utensils and bowls. In order not to end up with too many things to wash, I kept washing the little spoons, knives, mixing bowls and cutting boards in between. But after I put the finished product in the containers, I still had a lot of stuff to wash.
After having both bought and made, I came to the conclusion that the pros of making outweigh the cons. The best part of making kimchi was that it gave me more confidence in the kitchen to try other dishes that seemed too labor-intensive.
So the answer for the title question, for me, is definitely “make.” If you are willing to sacrifice comfort for taste, then making is the sensible, cost-effective choice.
Tips for beginners
Kimchi - simple ingredients, great taste / Korea Times photo by Do Je-hae
For The Korea Times readers, many of whom are foreigners, here are some tips for making kimchi for the first time.
1) Start with radish kimchi, because cabbage kimchi is more difficult. After kkakdugi, I tried cabbage kimchi, and it was harder to make. This is because there are more ingredients that go into cabbage kimchi, which means more cutting, preparing and washing. It could be easy to get discouraged from making kimchi again if the first attempt is too taxing.
2) Do not buy too many ingredients. When cut up into little cubes and pieces, just one radish or one cabbage will be enough to last several weeks. And it is easier to work with and make the mixture for just one than two or more. Also, kimchi does not taste fresh if it has been sitting in the fridge for too long. It is better to make small portions regularly, rather than to store a huge chunk for a lengthy period.
3) Find a YouTube inspiration for your kimchi. There are numerous kimchi recipes on YouTube, and the key is to find one that is easy to follow. I suggest following the recipe of “Seonkyoung Longest,” who operates a YouTube channel called “Asian at Home.” Some of her kimchi videos are under five minutes. To learn more about the history of kimchi and recipes using it, visit the website of Lauryn Chun, CEO of Mother-in-Law’s, a popular kimchi brand in the U.S at https://milkimchi.com.
Do Je-hae is an editorial writer for The Korea Times. Write to jhdo@ktimes.com.