Making Kimchi

My first experience of kimchi was in a restaurant in Jeju Island, Korea. It tasted good, although its reddish appearance may make you think that it is very spicy. However, it isn't. It only looks so.

Making Kimchi is not as simple as it looks. We were introduced to a session of kimchi making while on a visit to a farm. With red aprons donned, we were each given half a bak choi ( Chinese long cabbage ) and a large blob of kimchi paste.

At least ten ingredients go into the making of this paste and in certain proportions too. Of course we were not taught how to do the paste, to save time.

We had to open the bak choi leaf by leaf and slather each leaf with the paste. When the whole bak choi was covered with kimchi, we had to fold it over to make it look nice, slim and compact.I forgot to fold mine over so it looks fat, like me after eating a lot of meat for lunch and dinner!!

Then it will be left to season in the paste for sometime before it can be sliced and eaten as a side dish. Fortunately, this kimchi paste can be purchased from the supermarts. It is quite expensive. However, not all pastes are the same which explains why the kimchi in different restaurants taste different. It is actually a good appetiser and it also cleans our digestive system. I enjoyed eating it very much.If you haven't tried it, you should.