If you are interested not only in Korean culture, but also in its cuisine, you have probably heard references to kimchi sauce more than once. Today this gas station has conquered many. Next, we will talk about the secrets of cooking this Korean dish.
What it is?
Kimchi sauce, the composition of which you will learn later, can be either a salad or a marinade - it depends on its consistency.
By the way, the name "kimchi" originally belonged to Beijing cabbage in a special piquant marinade. Then, fruits began to be added to it, which gave the dish a new taste.
Now fans of Asian cuisine can easily order the legendary sauce in online stores. But true connoisseurs of Korean cuisine prefer to cook this dish with their own hands. Korean kimchi sauce is not so difficult to make at home. The main thing is to get the necessary ingredients and get acquainted with the cooking technology.
Kimchi Sauce Cooking Tips
This gas station is quite peculiar, there are practically no analogues to it. That is why it is so important to get acquainted with the specifics of its preparation.
The main ingredient in kimchi sauce is kochujan paste. It is made from fermented beans and rice with a lot of hot pepper. There is no alternative to this paste in European cuisine. But if you can’t get it, it’s not a problem. You can replace it with pepper sauce or thick hot ketchup. But because of the compositional adjustment, kimchi sauce, of course, will no longer have an original taste.
Another common ingredient is fish sauce. This product is difficult to get, but there is nothing to replace. You can simply exclude it from the composition of kimchi sauce or replace it with fish broth. Of course, the taste of gas station will suffer, but this is only a true connoisseur of Korean cuisine.
Other ingredients for making kimchi in Korean are much easier to get. But they can be replaced. For example, lime juice - for lemon juice, rice vinegar - for apple or wine. The result of this will not change much.
Some versions of the sauce have a specific smell, which not everyone likes. This is all the merit of Beijing cabbage. If you are sensitive to aromas, give preference to fruit recipes - such dressings have a pleasant aroma with fruity notes.
Caution! Kimchi sauce surpasses in its spiciness many well-known Korean dressings. People suffering from diseases of the gastrointestinal tract or hypertension should eat it with caution.
Classic recipe (without cabbage)
The ingredients for kimchi sauce for this recipe are as follows:
- 30 grams of ginger root;
- 3-4 cloves of garlic;
- 50 ml lime juice;
- 50 ml of rice vinegar;
- 30 ml of fish sauce;
- 20 grams of sesame seeds;
- 100 ml kochujan paste.
Let's start cooking:
- We clean the ginger root, grind it on a grater.
- Grind the garlic cloves by passing through a special press.
- Put ginger and garlic in a blender bowl, beat them. Thanks to this, the sauce will get a smoother consistency.
- Next, add kochujan paste to the products, whisk again.
- Add lime juice, fish sauce and vinegar.
- Stir all the ingredients in a blender, transfer to a bowl.
- Then fry the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan for 2-3 minutes and pour in the sauce. We stir everything by hand.
- We put the sauce in a glass jar and put it in the refrigerator.
Since kimchi sauce is a rather hot dressing, it should not be added to dishes in large quantities.
By the way! If sterilized, the sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for two weeks.
Traditional kimchi with cabbage recipe
We stock up on the following products:
- half a kilogram of Beijing cabbage;
- 100 grams of carrots;
- 75 grams of onion;
- 40 grams of fresh ginger;
- 5 garlic cloves;
- 20 ml of fish sauce;
- 20 grams of green onions;
- 50 ml kochujan paste;
- 30 grams of rice flour;
- 200 ml of water;
- sugar, salt - to taste.
Now we will study the cooking process itself:
- We cut cabbage leaves at the base, rinse them under running water. Salt each leaf, leave for 4 hours.
- Next, cut the onions in large pieces, carrots - in strips or rub on a grater.
- Cut into small pieces of garlic and ginger, chop in a blender. We put onion there.
- We plant flour in a glass of water, heat it. As soon as the mixture begins to boil, add a couple of tablespoons of sugar, mix. Cook the mixture a little more until the consistency of jelly.
- Mix carrots with Kochujan paste, green onions and garlic-onion-ginger mixture.
- We wash the salted cabbage, squeeze it, twisting the leaves.
- Lubricate the leaves with the mixture, put in the refrigerator.
When serving, it is worth chopping a snack with a knife finely so that it acquires the consistency of a thick sauce. You can add a fruity note to the dish by adding crushed apple in a blender. Then the dressing will be soft, fresh and piquant.