Cucumber Kimchi

My family loves to eat kimchi. We usually buy kimchi from a Korean restaurant or supermarket. I never thought of making kimchi because it seems so complicated. I was at the library and chanced upon a kimchi making book. Cucumber Kimchi seems like the easiest among the lot. I took a snapshot of the recipe and decided to give it a shot. After 3 days, we finally got to taste it . The cucumber is crunchy and taste great. I tried with only 2 cucumbers in case we don't like the taste. Now I can make a big batch.

Source : Kimchi: Essential recipes of the Korean Kitchen


Cucumber Kimchi  (1 large jar, about 3 litres)

Ingredients

10 japanese cucumbers

125g coarse sea salt

Kimchi paste

75g gochugaru ( Korea chilli powder )

200g finely chopped leek

100g shredded fresh daikon ( radish )

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1 teaspoon minced garlic

3 tablespoon sea salt

2 teaspoon sugar

Method

1. Cut cucumber into pieces about length of 5cm. Place them in a big bowl. Sprinkle salt and fill with water. Let stand for 1 hour at room temperature. If you are in a rush, you can skip the water and let them soak up the salt for 30 minutes.

2. Rinse the salt off thoroughly and drain. The cucumber should taste slightly salty.

3. Mix all ingredients for the Kimchi paste.

 
4. Mix the cucumber and paste together and mix well. 

5. Keep them in a air-tight container or jarand put it in the fridge. It is better to use a container with bigger base. Liquid will be released gradually and the kimchi will taste better if they are in contact with the liquid.

6. The kimchi is ready after about 3 days and will keep fresh for maximum 2 weeks. 

These are the red pepper powder that I used. I like to mix half spicy and half mild.