VideoKimchi: a Hong Kong Korean chef’s easy video recipe for the spicy-sour staple
No matter how tiny your kitchen, you can make kimchi at home. Just follow the recipe from Bib n Hops’ head chef Yong Soo Do, who learned to make the fermented vegetable dish from his mother while growing up in Canada
Watching chef Yong Soo-do dance as he puts the finishing touches to a fresh batch of kimchi, it’s obvious he has a serious affection for the fermented vegetables.
In North Korea, even the production of kimchi can be revolutionised by technological know-how
Kimchi, a staple in Korean cuisine, is made with salted vegetables (the most popular is cabbage). Although there are mild, unspicy “white” kimchis, most people think of the pungent, spicy and sour kimchi made with gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes) and (often) fish sauce.
Kimchi began as a way to preserve vegetables to help families make it through the long, harsh Korean winters. Initially it was made without spice, much like sauerkraut, and stored underground in jars to keep it cool, but unfrozen. The recipe evolved over time, and was adapted to meet the needs of different regions; many families have their own recipe for kimchi.
“Food … carries the history of a region and its culture,” says Yong, who comes from a family of chefs and was born in Busan on the southeast coast of Korea and raised in Toronto. “If you go to the north side of Korea, the kimchi is a little less spicy; if you go south, where it is colder, it is heavier and spicier; and if you go to the east coast, they will put oysters in it. We are using salted shrimps, but you could use salted squid and salted mussels.
At Bib n Hops we make kimchi with choi sum … I mean, we are in Hong Kong, why don’t we make kimchi with Hong Kong vegetables?
“It’s very farm-to-table food. Basically whatever you can get in your region you can put in it. That’s why kimchi is so interesting; even if you go to a different city, the style of the kimchi changes and the flavour changes.”
For instance, now that he is in Hong Kong, Yong has changed his family’s recipe. “At Bib n Hops we make kimchi with choi sum,” he says. “I wanted to experiment. I’ve used bok choi and gau choi; any Chinese vegetable you see in the market. I mean, we are in Hong Kong, why don’t we make kimchi with Hong Kong vegetables?”