Did you know, the national dish of Korea is ‘Kimchi’? Served as an appetizer in most oriental restaurants around the world, Kimchi is a mix of hot & sweet flavours with crunchy salad vegetables that gets everyone salivating. Here’s my version of Kimchi, with locally available ingredients in Goa!
Ingredients:
Napa or Chinese cabbage – 500gm
Carrot (grated) – 30gm
Spring onion – 3no.
Chili flakes – 3tbsp
Garlic (chopped) – 2tbsp
Ginger (chopped) – 1tbsp
Refined oil – 5tbsp
Kikoman soy sauce – 2tbsp
Ketchup sauce – 4tbsp
Palm sugar / sugar – 1tsp
Salt – to taste
Method:
- Cut the cabbage into bite size squares & soak over night. This will make the cabbage a lot more crispy.
- Soak the chili flakes, garlic & ginger in the oil for about 3 hours. Then, sauté this mix on a slow flame till evenly cooked. This will help extract all the flavors into the oil. Add a pinch of salt, & about a handful of spring onion greens & take off the flame. Once cool, blend to a smooth paste.
- Grate the carrot & cut up the spring onions into 2cm long pieces.
- Time to assemble. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cabbage, carrots, chopped spring onion, kikoman soy sauce, the ketchup & a few spoons of the chili paste, depending on how fiery you like it. Add a tea spoon of sugar, a dash of salt & give it a good mix. Store in a glass jar if you like it for a later day.
- Voilà. Home made Kimchi! Serve as an appetizer or salad.