Korean cucumber kimchi made quick

“I asked a Korean friend what a typical food day is like here. He said it would usually be similar for all three meals at home: it may include a meat dish like bulgogi (thin slices of beef and onion marinated in a mixture of garlic, sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil), but it’s always served with soup and rice as the main course, and kimchi on the side.

“A lot of people go to restaurants for a fast bite, but many mothers prefer to cook dinner at home, to make sure their kids are eating healthy (schools often provide lunch).

“I’m told the new generation of moms, who work and raise their kids, don’t have a lot of time or interest in learning the traditional methods for making kimchi, etc; their moms will often make it in large amounts and deliver it to the family to be frozen/stored.” (p.48)

When in Korea, it doesn’t matter if you’re eating in a fancy restaurant, or a fast food joint for a quick bite: expect to receive at least a few small dishes of delicious kimchi with your meal.

Outside of Asia, many people will associate kimchi with one of Korea’s more famous food exports: spicy fermented cabbage. But the word is used for all types of little dishes, from sweet to salty and everything in between. With time, I’ll share all sorts of delicacies, but I’ll start off with a very simple dish.

All you really need to make an authentic cucumber kimchi is cucumber, salt, water, and chili. The salt will release a lot of the water from the vegetable, and give it something of a pickled taste, while the chili adds a nice little bite. The trick is to make sure you taste the cucumber before adding the chili and serving; if it’s too salty, you’ll need to wash it again (and again) until you get the mild taste you desire.

Korean cucumber kimchi

thin slices of cucumber (you can make them thicker if you want to turn it into a salad), lots of salt, water, chili powder (Korean chili will give it an authentic flavour (and Koreans are very Nationalistic with their food products, with packages stating the percentage of Korean chili and Chinese chili inside), but you can use Chinese too)

– place the cucumber slices in a bowl, cover them in salt, mix and leave for a few minutes
– pick up the cucumber, a handful at a time, and squeeze it over a sink in the palm of your hand, to break the fibres and help release the water
– rinse the salt off by filling a bowl with a lot of water, soaking the cucumber for some minutes, squeezing it again with your hands, and repeating with clean water
– taste the cucumber, and repeat until it’s not too salty
– drain the water from the bowl, add a bit of chili, and mix with the cucumber by hand
– place a pile of the cucumber in the centre of a bowl/plate, and decorate with a bit more chili
– serve as a side dish, or add additional ingredients (like toasted sesame seeds, thin carrot juliennes, some spring onion or chives, and a touch of soy sauce and sugar) to turn it into a salad

Enjoy!