The fruit of this writer’s labour.

In the past two weeks, this writer has eaten Kimchi Bokum Bap or Kimchi Fried Rice at least three times. But who’s complaining? In fact, it’s a privilege.

For those who, like many Singapore population above 25 , work late and have no food at home, we recommend you store some Kimchi in the fridge. The versatile fermented vegetable could be cooked with rice, made into soup with pre-packed stock, beef and tofu, or added into Korean instant noodles to spice it up – all in less than half an hour. It is a refreshing and spicy awakener that can be kept for up to three months. Two weeks ago, I made about eight kilos of Kimchi, entirely from scratch. It was my second time after picking it up at the Korean Tourism Board. The procedure may be tedious but the final product is likely to turn out like what it should be, unlike Nian Gao or Beef Wellington. So here is a very detailed Kimchi recipe together with the simple instruction to cook Kimchi Fried Rice.

Note: Bear with the initial tedious procedure of Kimchi making. The rest will be a cinch.

Kimchi

Preparation

2 Chinese Cabbages, about 1.5 kg to 2 kg each

Instruction: Peel off the dirty leaves on the outer layer. From the root, slice the cabbage into quarters, but only halfway through, and then use your hands to them apart. This will prevent the leaves from breaking into many tiny pieces, which happens when you use a knife to slice through.

Tips: Choose a cabbage that is green on the outside. If it is white, it means that the cabbage is not sweet. It is normal if the leaves inside are yellow. Do not wash the cabbage now. You’ll have a chance to do it later. Do not chop off the root. You’ll need it to hold the leaves together.

For the Salting process you will need:

Sea salt or coarse salt 100ml of water

A large pail

Laying the cabbages inner side upwards to retain as much water content as possible during the salting process.

Instruction: Pour water into the pail. Add a handful of salt into the water and stir Over the pail, sprinkle one handful salt on every piece of cabbage. Put the ready cabbage into the pail, and repeat the same step on the remaining cabbages.

Stack the cabbages and leave it for 4 hours. 4 hours later, check the stem of the cabbage. If it bends without breaking, it’s ready.

Note: Apply the salt on the stem, not the leaves, otherwise it will be too salty. When you stack the cabbages, make sure that the inner side of the vegetable is facing up so that it does not lose all its water content. Since the salt congregates at the bottom of the pail, bring the cabbages at the bottom to the top every one hour so that they will not be saltier than the rest.

Washing

Once the cabbages are ready, you need to remove the salt. Fill the pail with tap water and clean every piece of cabbage leaf. Transfer the cabbages into a basket and pour away the water in the pail Repeat the process at least one more time. Once you are done, put the cabbages in the basket and allow the water drain for an hour.

Note: Do not soak the cabbages in the water for too long or the natural sweetness of the vegetables will be lost.

After the second washing, tear a small piece of cabbage to taste. If it’s still too salty, wash them again until you are happy with the level of saltiness.

When you stack the washed cabbages in the basket, make sure that the inner side of the vegetables are facing down, so that they can drip dry thoroughly.

Seasoning

200ml of water Glutinous rice flour X 1.5tbsp (you could also use plain flour or rice powder) Garlic X 15 pieces Old Ginger, thumb size Red chilli X 5 pieces Sugar X 50g Fish sauce X 70ml Korean coarse chilli powder X 200g White raddish, palm size, sliced into strips Spring onions X 8 pieces, sliced into strips Onions X 1 piece, Sliced into strips

Instruction: Mix water with glutinous rice flour over low heat until the mixture has a gluey texture. Turn off the heat and leave it to cool. Blend garlic, ginger and red chilli with a little bit of water. Prepare a big pail. Pour the glue, the spice mixture, sugar, fish sauce and chilli powder into the pail and mix well. Try the sauce with one piece of cabbage leaf and add more fish sauce or chilli powder according to your liking. Throw in the onions, spring onions, and radish and mix well.

To make Kimchi

Rub the sauce on every piece of cabbage, starting from the largest leaf, on the inner side. Stuff the onions, spring onions and radish near the root between two leaves. Once you are done, hold the cabbage by its root and lift it up. Grab the leaves with the other hand, but leave the last, largest leaf dangling. Fold the cabbage into half and wrap it with the last piece of leaf. Pack the cabbage into an air-tight container. If you prefer your Kimchi to be a little bit sour, leave it to ferment in room temperature for about 24 hours. If not, pop it into the fridge immediately.

Note: When you keep the cabbage in a container, make sure that the inner side is facing up so that the cabbage does not release too much water as it ferments.

Use a container that the cabbages can fit nicely into. If there is too much air in the container, the Kimchi will be more sour than it should be.

Homemade Kimchi like this can last for about 3 months. But it becomes more sour by the day.

Kimchi Fried Rice (for 4 persons)

3 cups of rice

Water

500g Kimchi and water

400g of Pork Belly, preferably from the wet market

1 tbsp of salt

1.5 tbsp of sesame oil

4 eggs

4 tbsp of cooking oil

Salt

Wash the rice, add water, and pop it into the rice cooker.

Cut in the Kimchi into 2cm by 2cm pieces.

Wash the pork belly, rub it with salt and leave it in the fridge for half an hour. After that, slice it into smaller pieces.

Once the rice is cooked, heat up a non-stick pan over medium heat.

Add pork belly into the pan and stir. Cooking oil is not necessary here because the meat gives out oil when heated.

About three minutes later, throw in the Kimchi but keep the Kimchi water for later use. Stir for another minute.

Add the rice into the pan, pour in the Kimchi water and stir. Kimchi fried rice is meant to be sticky so I did not leave the rice to cool first. But if you prefer your fried rice to be grainy, you can cook the rice the day before.

Drizzle sesame oil over the rice and mix well. Turn off the fire.

On a separate pan, add cooking oil and heat it up over medium heat. Use more oil if you like the bottom of your sunny-side-up crispy.

Once the oil is hot, break an egg into the pan.

Spinkle some salt over the egg.

About three minutes later, or once the bottom of the egg is brown, it is ready to serve.

Repeat the steps for the rest of the eggs.

With ready-made Kimchi, it takes little effort to make this satisfying dish.