December is the time for making kimchi. Then the Koreans are making kimchi for the whole next year.
Last Saturday I was invited home to Mijun's parents to make kimchi. We had a good time and it was a really nice experience.
First, Mijun's mum made the kimchi sauce:
- Fish sauce
- Fish sauce
- red pepper powder
- onion
- garlic
- salt
- sugar
- ginger
Everyone make their own sauce and may have other ingridients.
Then we mixed the sauce with spring onion.
The cabbage have been laying in salt and been soaked in water for hours.
Then we started soaking the cabbage with the sauce.
It is important to cover everything layer by layer.
The kimchi can bee eaten right away or stored for years. They had their own kimchi fridge with right temperature to store it. Back in the old days they used kimchi jars which were made of a special ceramic, so the kimchi should keep the right temperature. In the summer time they put it down under the ground and during winter time it was just kept outdoor.
After all the work we had a nice meal, kimchi and samgyupsal, thick slices of pork belly. Yummi!