Wow, I can't believe that I have not written since September......I was in India in Nov and then in Jan, and then things just got busy so I just wasn't in the mood to get here and write.....I know....there is only one word for it and thats 'being lazy'.

Finally, today I dragged myself to start again and will try and be regular.

I have spent so much time in the kitchen since September that I have lost count of all the new stuff that I made. Still...let me try and remember atleast a few things that I made :

1. Chicken and Mangotout in plum sauce
2. Chicken fried rice
3. Nan Katai
4. Chicken in blackbean sauce
5. Mango Achar
6. Kimchi

Thats all that I can remember and I am sure there were more.

Kimchi

This is a Korean pickle....a lot like Sauerkraut, just without the spice. I first tried this from Japan Centre and I loved the pungent odour of feremented cabbage and chillies. It does have a strong smell so you can either love it or hate it.

Here is the wikipedia link to Kimchi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimchi

I continued buying Kimchi from Japan Centre for months (1 packet lasts a week or so). I was just browsing the web and I came across home made Kimchi. So I thought...why not try this at home. The recipe looked a bit tedious as it needed the cabbage to be fermented for 8-10 days, but I still decided to try it out.

I made the Baechu kimchi which is made with Chinese Cabbage. You can buy the cabbage in any supermarket.

Kimchi Ingredients

1 Chinese Cabbage

1/4 cup Rice Vinegar

1/2 cup of salt

1/2 cup chilli flakes (or as per taste...I generally like spicy kimchi)

A few cloves of garlic (I used 5-6 big cloves)- sliced

1 bunch Scallions

1 piece Ginger -medium size - sliced

1 carrot shredded

1 cup water

Wash the cabbage and separate the outer leaves. Cut the rest of the cabbage through its heart in to 4 quarters and separate the leaves from each of the quarters. Take a wide spread bowl (wooden if available) and spread a layer of the cabbage leaves and sprinkle salt liberally on the layer. Cover it with another layer of leaves and sprinle the salt and repeat till all leaves are used up. Cover it and use a heavy weight on top of the cover so that the leaves are tightly pressed together.

Leave it for 7 days stirring it every day so that the top leaves end up at the bottom and vice versa. You will notice a lot of brine -salt water collected. This is good as it aids fermentation of the cabbage and will prevent the cabbage from going bad.

On the 8th day, wash the cabbage repeatedly in cold water.This is very important as the saltiness of the prepared kimchi depends on this step. So wash it and taste it till you get the right salty cabbage.You can leave it in cold water overnight.

Next day squeeze out the water. Chop the scallions, shred the cabbage, slice the garlic and ginger.Mix it with the cabbage. Mix the chilli flakes, water and rice vinegar. You have to be cautious with Rice vinegar as its very pungent and a little bit goes along way.Add this mixture to the cabbage mixture. There should be sufficient liquidto drown the cabbage else it can go mouldy.

Store it in a jar and keep it in the fridge for another week. Now the kimchi is ready to be used.

It looks difficult, but believe me its real easy.

Have it with steamed or stir fried rice.......i have it with just about anything.

Its damn good for your stomach as it promotes production of good bacteria in your guts. All teh ginger and garlic prevents flatulence......supposedly Kimchi is one of the 5 most nutritious foods in the world.