Thursday, March 28, 2024
FOOD&DRINK

How much kimchi does my mother-in-law send us at kimjang season?

Over 20 kg of kimchi was delivered to our door yesterday.

My parents-in-law have been out on their farm in the countryside making kimchi. And as well as all the kimchi they gave us, we got a hamper full of food including some of the kimchi-making leftover ingredients –  radish, napa cabbage and chilli flakes, which were all grown on their farm, and a jar of grated ginger, and tiny fermented shrimps in fish sauce.

The other important ingredients of kimchi are salt and of course, garlic.

korean garlic

Since my mother-in-law’s family came from North Korea, she just uses tiny salted shrimp in her kimchi for a fresh, light flavour. She doesn’t add any other seafood. But a few years ago, my mother-in-law’s adjumma friends persuaded her to add raw oysters to her kimchi. So she did.

shrimp and fish sauce

She hasn’t done that again.

Oysters give the kimchi a richer, fishier, almost oily flavour and texture which clings to to your teeth after you’ve eaten it. Adding the oysters made the kimchi very different to what she usually makes. This kind of kimchi is popular in Jeollado, in the south of Korea. I liked it and I think it’s nice to have now and again, but not every day. I suppose, it’s just what you’re used to. I bet everyone thinks their family’s kimchi is the best 🙂

As well as all the kimchi, she sent lots of other food too. Very exciting. Here are some of the highlights …

samjang

one pot of ssamjang dipping sauce  – a mix of homemade soybean paste, homemade chilli paste, garlic, and spring onions. All I need now are some carrots to dip …

godulbegi

I bag of godulbegi. The dictionary calls this ‘Korean lettuce’ but the roots are used as well, and they are really the star of the show and give the kimchi a very earthy, bitter taste which I love. Mr Kim doesn’t really like it, so I end up eating most of it myself… Here’s a Korean blogger making the godulbegi kimchi

gojori

1 bag of fresh napa cabbage kimchi baechu geotjeori. This is not the same as regular napa cabbage kimchi which will pretty much last forever and just gets more and more flavourful over time. This one needs to be eaten quite quickly as it’s not meant to last. So you just make a little bit at a time.

toran

I bag of dried toran chulgori, these are the leaves of the taro – that soft potato-ish vegetable. Don’t ask me what you’re supposed to do with these though. I’ll have to ask my mother-in-law.

chilli

1 bag of deep fried chillies. When you open the bag the chillies leap up and sting you right in the eyes. These can be used for a crispy side dish when you haven’t got enough other spicy stuff on the table (which in Korea is like, never)  I’m seeing a tasty beer snack though. But I think I’m going to need a lot of beer to wash them down …

mogwa

2 Mogwa fruit from the tree on the farm – these can be peeled and sliced and used to make tea (with lots of sugar since the fruit is not sweet). Mokgwa are supposed to be good for fighting off a winter cold.

walnuts

8 walnuts, less exotic to me than mogwa but I do love nuts, and they are from the tree on the farm too…(obviously not the same tree..)

perilla oil

5 bottles of perilla oil (in soju bottles, naturally) – my parents-in-law grow the perilla seeds on the farm and then get them made into oil.

There was other stuff too. Altogether we got ….20 kg (at least) of cabbage kimchi and radish kimchi, shrimp in fish sauce, minced ginger, godulbegi Korean lettuce kimchi, geotjeori kimchi, ssamjang dip, deep fried chillies, red beans, peeled raw chestnuts, spring onions, toasted sesame seeds, peanuts, walnuts, 5 jars of perilla oil, 4 heads of napa cabbage, 3 moo radish, 2 mokwa fruit

AND A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE. (not really, but it does feel like Christmas already 🙂 )

 

7 thoughts on “How much kimchi does my mother-in-law send us at kimjang season?

  • Mostly I buy my kimchi from one of the Asian grocery markets but I have made it. It really isn’t hard, and it is so yummy! I’d love to learn how you make it in the ground. Thanks for sharing this recipe. I don’t think I”ll try the oysters because I don’t like a strong fish taste or oily texture.
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    Reply
    • Yes, I think it’s great if you can make the kimchi yourself. My mother-in-law used to store her kimchi in ceramic pots dug into the ground. But she doesn’t need to do that anymore since she got a kimchi fridge.

      Reply
  • This is fabulous! Made me so hungry! Luckily I have reentry moved to Sacramento and discovered an amazing Asian food centre, called Koreana Plaza. They have more than 8 kinds of locally made kimchi and I stock up on it every week. Visiting with you in Seoul has really increased my appreciation for Korean food. I also love seeing that the bottles from the type of Soju your parents use for oil are the SAME bottles of Soju I keep in my refrigerator! Cheers to you and Mr. Kim.

    Reply
    • Great to hear from you. And good to know you are still enjoying Korean food.
      Sounds like you’ve moved to a convenient place. 🙂 Have you been doing any Korean cooking?
      Mr Kim says hello!

      Reply
  • We harvest plenty of taro but never use the leaves… I will be checking out what can we do with them (thanks for the motivation!) I’m learning more about fermentation but have only done Kombucha and traditionall Napa Kimchi (with fermented shrimps of course), but there is so much more to explore! Next experiment: ginger bug with the ginger harvested today 😉

    Reply
    • Ginger bug? I’ve never heard of that! But anything using ginger must be good.
      I want to get more into fermentation too, and pickling – I just bought a book on that. Hopefully I’ll be trying some recipes soon. It sounds like you grow a lot of produce. Do you have a farm?

      Reply

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