PFB: Choose Your Own Adventure: Kimchi
Dan 
Ok, I am onto round two of the Foodbuzz‘s Project Food Blog competition. This time around, I’ve decided to go on a quest to conquer kimchi! As previously mentioned in my ‘alphabet‘, I really enjoy the dish, but cooking Asian cuisine is not something I dabble in very often. I believe my pho and ginger beef are best left to the professionals! The task for this round is cooking a traditional dish from a different culture that is outside of one’s comfort zone. Kimchi definitely falls outside of my ‘zone’, so I think it will be an excellent venture. A good friend has given me her mother’s (Korean) recipe for kimchi, and, well, shall I give it a whirl?
Feel free to join me on the adventure, this one’s interactive!
In addition to going outside of my comfort zone mentally, I chose to extract myself from my city’s downtown centre (aka physical comfort zone) and venture to the very north end of town to go ingredient shopping. T & T Supermarket is an Asian specialty market with all kinds of interesting items. From pickled chili bamboo shoots to chicken feet, they’ve got just about everything that you won’t find at your local grocery store. When I treat myself to a visit to this market, I am more like a kid in a candy store. So many interesting things to look at and I want to try them all. Well, maybe not sea urchin…
Kimchi does not require a lot of ingredients, and, to be honest, you can find most of the ingredients at your local grocery store (with the exception of the Korean chili powder I needed). I ventured out to this market for the experience, and found some unique items that I’m going to experiment with in the near future. Once I had gathered up my kimchi components I was just about to head to the cashier when an aisle full of junk food and candy caught my eye.
Do I…
buy tons of junk food and forsake my healthy diet forever…(click here)
or…
stay true to my food-world sans junk food…(keep reading)
Phew, you kept reading! That other road was definitely a dead end! Let’s get back to the kimchi creation. My cooking comfort zone generally involves no recipe. I like to walk into my local grocery store or farmers’ market and let what’s around me inspire tonight’s dinner. Now, recipe in-hand, I read through it and see that the cabbage needs to soak in salted water for 3-4 hours and then the prepared kimchi must sit in a cool location for 2 days to ferment! I’m a make-it-and-eat-it kind of guy, so this multiple-day procedure was a first for me.
After I let the cabbage soak in salted water for 4 hours, I had to combine it with a paste made out of the ginger, garlic, fish sauce, sesame oil, then add in the daicon. The whole process was simple enough, although my hands did turn red after rubbing the whole mixture with the paste and chili powder…So now what? Now with all the components combined, I have 2 days to wait for this kimchi to be ready.
Do I…
catch up on all the True Blood episodes that I’ve missed…(click here)
or…
be productive with my time, clean my house, and write up a couple blog posts…(keep reading)
If you had the faith in me to keep reading I applaud you! I successfully, but slightly impatiently, waited the full 2 days before giving the kimchi a taste test. I tossed the mixture with a bit of sesame oil and topped it with some fresh green onions, then took a bite. It turned out pretty tasty, and spicy, if I do say so myself. With the kimchi completed, photos taken, there was only one last, final step: post the entry to my site. I sat down at my computer, parrot on shoulder, and was about to start typing when I received a message from my friends asking if I wanted to meet them for lunch at my favourite pub. Hmm…
Do I…
meet them for lunch and a beer. I won’t miss my deadline…(click here)
or…
politely decline their offer…(keep reading)
Sorry guys! Next time! With the post submitted, I have come to the end of my kimchi adventure. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed eating it!
Click here for the Kimchi recipe!
Click here to head over to my Project Food Blog contestant page!
24 Comments to “PFB: Choose Your Own Adventure: Kimchi”
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I am certainly glad you made the deadline. This kimchi would have been sorely missed. I too have made kimchi and know something of the adventure you just experienced! In fact here is a rather silly video of me making said kimchi. http://www.sippitysup.com/kimchivideo GREG
Fun entry. Click here to see if I vote for you; click here… (yeah, I will). Good luck!
So fun! Evokes fond/frustrating memories of reading Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books in elementary school (I’d often just cheat and read ‘em backwards so I didn’t end up dying uselessly a few chapters in!).
I’ve always had an uninformed prejudice against kimchi based on others’ opinion it was foul-tasting, but this post makes me want to revisit my notion with some first-hand taste experiences! Maybe tonight. Well, two days from now, anyway.
Those alternative and gluttonous choices were very tempting!!! But, I’m glad you, and I, made the right choice. Now, give me some kimchi to try!!
I’m actually craving kimchi now that I’ve read your adventure….
After living in Vancouver, I got spoiled with T&T and all their wonderful things, so good on you for venturing out to yours!
Your adventure of Kimchi is great! Another vote for Canada!
Thanks for your sweet comment on my blog!! I’m loving this post…you totally have my vote! Great job and best of luck!
What a creative post! You have my vote.
Kelly
Sounding My Barbaric Gulp!
http://www.barbaricgulp.com
P.S. I made pho for the second challenge. You can see my entry here: http://www.barbaricgulp.com/2010/09/project-food-blog-classics-challenge-2.html
Great entry and you have my vote. My hsband loves this dish.
Wow!! This was the most interesting way to make kimchi I’ve ever seen (although personally I would have been taken away by the vampires…)
Kimchi for the Winchi! my vote is yours…and can i say…I absolutely LOVE the choose your own adventure bit.
Skoal, Cheers and GOOD LUCK!
Sounds great! Just voted for you – good luck!
I’m sooo making this!!
I love finding interesting recipes for things I wouldn’t normally make, so I made this!
It was delicious!
I can’t wait for the next one!
I also liked the format you used, choose-your-own-adventure-style!
Really cute post idea… I used to love choose your own adventure books!! Your kimchi looks great, but I don’t think I would have had the patience to wait 2 days!! Great job!
I love your blog!
Great recipes! I cannot wait to try!
I voted for you and your kimchi choose your own adventure game days ago. (Took me a while to get there as I always pick the wrong route on these games for some reason…) Just wanted to stop by and let you know I appreciate your kind words on my entry. Seriously it means a lot. I hope we BOTH move forward in this crazy game.
Wow that was a fun read! I like choose your own adventure posts! Hahaha
Man, I wish this season of True Blood hadn’t come to an end, at least there’s Dexter.
You made a wise decision, friends will always be there and True Blood comes out on DVD and is streamable. PFB is once in a lifetime (unless they like… have it next year). Your kimchi looks delicious, by the way.
Best of luck, you’ve got our vote!
Lick My Spoon
Finally! A blogger with some creativity. I loved the choose your own adventure concept and cannot wait for the next post!!!
Keep Rocking it!
Ha, kimchi was on my maybe list lol. Great recipe and love how you went about it. Got my vote too!
You have a very refreshing and unique approach – best of luck with PFB!
What a great post! I truly enjoyed reading it (or, dare i say, interacting with it?!). I squeaked in a vote for you before the window closed. Good luck!!