Kimchi
๊น์นgim-chi
How to choose, store and cook with kimchi
Kimchi is the general name for salted, seasoned and fermented vegetables, and there are hundreds of kinds โ from classic napa cabbage kimchi to cubed radish, cucumber, green onion and mild, brothy water kimchis. This guide is about using kimchi as an ingredient.
- Korean name
- ๊น์น (gim-chi)
- What it is
- How to choose, store and cook with kimchi
- Storage
- Always refrigerate, pressed down under its own brine in an airtight container.
- Substitute
- For cooked dishes only, sauerkraut mixed with gochugaru, garlic and a little fish sauce is a last resort.
- Recipes
- Used in 37 recipes on coo K food
Fresh, ripe and aged
Fresh kimchi is crunchy and bright and best eaten as a side dish. After a few weeks in the fridge it ripens (ikeun-kimchi) and turns pleasantly sour โ this is the kimchi you want for cooking kimchi-jjigae, kimchi fried rice, kimchi pancakes and dumpling fillings. Mukeunji, kimchi aged for a year or more, is very sour and soft and is usually braised.
The main types
Baechu-kimchi (napa cabbage) is the everyday kind. Kkakdugi uses cubed radish, chonggak-kimchi uses whole young radishes, oi-sobagi is stuffed cucumber, and pa-kimchi is made from green onions. Baek-kimchi (white kimchi) contains no chili, and dongchimi and nabak-kimchi are water kimchis whose cold, tangy broth is drunk or used for noodles.
Cooking with kimchi
Sautรฉ kimchi in a little oil or pork fat before adding liquid โ it mellows the sourness and deepens the flavor. A pinch of sugar balances kimchi that has become too sour. Do not throw away the brine (kimchi-guk-mul); a few spoonfuls season stews and fried rice.
Kimchi is salty. Some recipes here rinse off the seasoning before stir-frying, or pair kimchi with plenty of fresh cabbage, tofu or bean sprouts, to keep the flavor while lowering sodium.
๐ง How to store it
Always refrigerate, pressed down under its own brine in an airtight container. It keeps fermenting slowly, so open containers carefully. Korean households often use a dedicated kimchi fridge held just below 0ยฐC.
๐ Substitutes
There is no real substitute. For cooked dishes only, sauerkraut mixed with gochugaru, garlic and a little fish sauce is a last resort.
๐ Where to buy
Look for it at Korean or pan-Asian grocery stores such as H Mart, or order it online โ it keeps well, so it is easy to stock up.
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