.: evil jungle prince :.

Of all the foods out there, I find myself most enamored with and fascinated by Korean kimchi. I suppose this was somewhat inevitable, having been drawn historically to both pungent tastes and green vegetables. As a child, my mother used to make me vinegared spinach and I always loved this dish so much. Who knew this simple side-dish would lead me here?

I feel awfully proud of this batch of gochu kimchi (고추김치) because the Korean peppers were grown from seed out in my garden. Taken together with the fact the kimchi, once made, requires a month of fermentation, one might state that this kimchi took over two years to prepare!

RECIPE: green chili kimchi is prepared by first rinsing approximately 3 oz of Korean chilis. (If these are not available, I suggest using shishito peppers which have the same level of hotness, i.e. nearly none. The texture and look is different but the taste will be the same.) Then mix together 3/4 cup of anchovy paste, 1 cup fish sauce, 3 oz chopped garlic, 2 oz chopped ginger, and 3 oz of chili flakes (these should be purchased from a Korean market as the Mexican type just aren't the same). Mix the paste with the gochus and place them into a container, pressing down to compact the mixture. Ferment in the refrigerator for 1-3 months.

Perhaps I've told this story before, but I'm feeling nostalgic.

The first time I tried kimchi was in college and it was that dried type of kimchi that comes in Korean ramen bowls. This wasn't 'real' kimchi, but all the same I was fascinated by the taste and craved more. Sadly, I wouldn't try eating real kimchi for many more years. This happened in Tokyo where I shared house with a Korean woman from Pusan. She used to bring back big plastic tubs of homemade kimchi from her family, which I suppose was a much superior sort of kimchi introduction. (I've always wondered though how she got away with lugging these on planes, especially flying with Japanese people who harbor such strong, negative feelings towards the smell of garlic.) Anyway, it was during this time I began eating kimchi on a regular basis. I even ended up taking a short trip to Seoul, so inspired I was by this miracle food.

When I came back to the U.S., however, it was totally impossible to buy a decent kimchi. While most U.S. supermarkets sell a brand of kimchi called King's, this stuff can hardly be called kimchi. So I began preparing kimchi myself, slowly emersing myself in the various rules and forms of etiquette involved in the process. My love of kimchi became not just a love of the food then, but a love for the process. A lot of people have emailed me while I've kept this blog and 'informed' me that the average Korean on the street doesn't make their own kimchi anymore, but this isn't the point. The 'point,' if there must be one, is my personal love of the process and the satisfaction that comes after many weeks of waiting and wondering. One combines various ingredients that, with time and care, will emerge as something entirely different in the end; I find a certain sense of wonderment in that.