kimchi : batch 03 is the most successful yet! it smells great and is packing a spicy punch. it's still lacking a bit in complexity of flavors and I did under salt this time to compensate for salty, inedible batch 02.
notes:
used one head of bok choy
soaked overnight in 2 Tbs salt + water (enough to submerge leaves)
1/4 cup of red pepper flakes + water
3 cloves of garlic
1 ripe pear
2 green onions


so, i left out ginger, as i had none, & fish sauce. i think those two ingredients definitely make a difference. we'll find out in batch 04. also, it will be nice to use napa cabbage as i love, love the texture and flavor. looking forward to making kimchi fried rice when batch 03 gets too sour for my liking.

Do Chua

this radish is a bit big. it's all i could find.

behold - the daikon radish! yum. so, now that i'm getting the hang of making kimchi, I had to find out how to make those delicious, sweet, & tangy pickled radishes. of course, I didn't know what they were called, but i just discovered Mokofuku for 2 (now I have to buy that cookbook and make ramen broth!). upon seeing this post, i learned that the thing i wanted to make was called Do Chua and is Vietnamese (responsible for so much good food). So, i did a quick google search and the first result was an excellent recipe - which I followed and photographed.

radish rectangle.

first time i've julienned veggies.

kneading the veggies in salt + sugar to remove 1/4 of moisture.

veggies in brine - all done!

i ate some today and they lived up to my expectations. yum yum.