Cabbage Kimchee
From : Avital Pinnick
Date: 1/13/00
1 lb chinese cabbage, sliced into 1" sections
3 tbs + 1 tsp salt
2 tbs finely chopped fresh ginger
2 tbs finely chopped garlic
2 tbs cayenne pepper (or real Korean red pepper, if you can get it)
1 tsp sugar
Soak the cabbage in 6 cups of water in which the 3 tbs salt has been dissolved. Weight it down with something like a glass plate. Leave it for about 12 hours, stirring it around occasionally. Take the cabbage out with a slotted spoon and mix it with the ginger, garlic, pepper and sugar. Stuff it into jars. Cover with the salt water to about 1" below the jar rim and add the extra tsp of salt. (Throw out the salt water that's left over--you'll have a lot).
Put a clean handkerchief or teatowel over the top of the jar and just let it sit for about a week in winter or maybe 4 days in summer. It'll smell vile but that's part of the fun. Then cover with a non-metallic cap and stick it in your fridge.
The liquid is good to add to soup stock. If you find any dead snails or other once-animal debris, send them to this list.
Oh, almost forgot-- how do you eat it? I like to add a generous quantity to chicken soup before heating it. I stick it on rice and tofu. Also eat it straight out of the jar. *g*