A couple of people have asked us to post a recipe for kimchi. The truth is, I don't make kimchi, and neither do most Korean-Americans I know. I can, however, tell you how I buy kimchi.
We buy house-made kimchi at the Korean market. I think kimchi is best about seven to ten days after it's made, so we either buy a fresh jar and just let it sit in our fridge until it reaches the desired ripeness, or buy an already-fermented jar at the store. The question is, how do you know if it's fermented or not? The old-school way is to open the jar and smell it, but we usually just go by the dates written on the jar.
Sometimes, we'll buy a huge jar of kimchi, and then it will get a little too ripe before we can eat it all. Time for kimchi chigae!*
Kimchi Chigae
a glug of sesame oil
1/2 pound of pork stew meat, cut into cubes or strips
1 package of firm tofu, cut in cubes
2 - 3 cups of fermented kimchi**
a pinch of dashida powder (If I don't have any dashida on hand, I use chicken stock base instead. It's not exactly authentic, but it works pretty well.)
a dash of soy sauce
a pinch of sugar
a couple of green onions, cut into strips
Heat the sesame oil in a dutch oven on medium heat, then brown the pork. Add the kimchi and saute for five minutes. If you want really spicy chigae, add some of the leftover juice from the bottom of the kimchi jar. Pour in enough water to cover the kimchi and pork mixture, plus one inch or so. Throw in the cubes of tofu, dashida powder (or two teaspoons of chicken stock base), soy sauce and sugar. Simmer for twenty minutes, add green onions, and cook five minutes more. Serve with steamed rice.
*I learned to cook Korean food by reading recipes, eating, and trying to replicate tastes at home, so if this isn't the way your halmoni made it, feel free to post your variation in the comments.
**It has to be stinky. Freshly made kimchi doesn't work as well.
--Weigook Saram