Food From My Friend: Quick Kim Chee

Kayde was my son Tom's teacher in elementary school. If memory serves, she was just starting in education at the time, but her dedication to her students was apparent even then. Kayde cooks a lot with her children and her son, another Aiden, is already showing quite a bit of skill in the kitchen. She shared two recipes with me; I will definitely get to the second one a little later.


I knew I was going to make Sofia's soy-ginger chicken and I thought Kayde's recipe for quick kim chee would be a perfect accompaniment. Here's the cast.


Five won bok, AKA napa cabbage, leaves were washed and cut into thin diagonals.


The cabbage was sprinkled with salt. Kayde's recipe didn't specify so I did about 1-1/2 tsp. of kosher salt. The cabbage was allowed to rest for about 15 minutes.


I gave the cabbage a quick rinse and drained the water thoroughly. The cabbage should be gently squeezed to remove any excess water but don't overdo it; you don't want bruised leaves.


I peeled and julienned a small carrot.


Red chili pepper flakes, fish sauce and garlic were mixed with apricot jam to make a paste. I really liked the use of the jam; partly because I really like apricots but also because it gave the sauce a nice sweetness and the faintest bit of fruitiness.


I added the carrots to the cabbage and then, since I didn't have any disposable gloves, I wrapped my mixing hand in plastic wrap to keep the pepper flakes from irritating my skin.


I added the sauce and mixed it around.


By the time I added the sesame seeds, my overzealous mixing made my fingertips poke right out of my makeshift glove. Oh well. It almost worked.


The kim chee needed to be refrigerated for at least two hours.


It was a great side dish with tonight's chicken! I know that fermentation is a major part of kim chee but I have to say that the freshness of the cabbage really made for a great change.  My guys enjoyed the kim chee very much; like the chicken, there was nothing left when I got back from running my errand. My husband "suggested" that I make more next time and he actually noticed that there was "some kind of fruit" in there. That's highly unusual.

Thank you for a great recipe, Kayde!

Quick Kim Chee
Courtesy of Kayde Nakamura

 Ingredients:

 5 won bok cabbage leaves, washed and cut into diagonal slices
1 small carrot, peeled and julienned
Salt (I used about 1-1/2 tsp.)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2T. apricot jam
1 T. fish sauce (recommended 3 Crabs brand)
1 T. dry chili pepper
Sesame seeds, toasted (I used about a tablespoon)

Instructions:
  1. Sprinkle salt over cabbage, mix well and let sit for 15 minutes.
  2. Rinse cabbage with water and gently squeeze to remove excess water. Don't damage cabbage!
  3. Add julienned carrot to cabbage.
  4. Mix jam, chili pepper, fish sauce and garlic to make a paste.
  5. Put on disposable gloves and mix vegetables with paste.
  6. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
  7. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

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