Ignore this post

[ruaki]

Okay, Jane.

Since my mom plays it by ear, this is pretty disjointed. I tried to make it as organized as possible, but her measurements are really estimates. Since you said you were going to modify it anyway, just be forewarned.

Basic ingredients:

Napa/Chinese Cabbage
Crushed garlic
Salt (Sea salt or large salt crystals)
Sugar
Asian red pepper (you know the type)
Sand Lance sauce (or anchovy oil, etc)

Chop 1 good sized cabbage into whatever sizes you like your kimchi to be. Wash and dry.

Cover it in salt (about 1 cup), mix together, and set sit about 30 minutes to soak in. The cabbage should gain a slight "flaccid" feel to it. If you have an especially fresh cabbage, and it's still too crisp after 30 minutes, let it sit longer. Basically you want a flexible, floppy product.

Wash off the salt, about 2-3 times, and let dry. (Mom says about 5 minutes is fine)

In a separate bowl, mix about 1/2 cup red pepper (more or less to taste), 1tsp crushed garlic, 1 tbsp sugar, and about 1tbsp sand lance sauce. More or less to your taste. Add just enough water to mix it together to form a paste. Let the paste sit for about 10 minutes, enough for the red pepper to gain a really deep color.

Then, in large bowl, mix the cabbage and paste together.

Depending on your taste, you can eat as is (for a very fresh taste which I personally dislike) or let it sit overnight, outside the fridge, to ferment the kimchi. The longer you let it ferment, the stronger the taste. I personally like mine very "sour." You can refrigerate the kimchi afterwards. (Fridge keeps the "fresh" taste longer.)

Just remember that each time you take the kimchi out of the jar, you want to "pack" it back down to push out the air from inside the kimchi.

That's your most basic kimchi recipe. Hope it helps for what you're doing.