Spicy, sour, a hint of sweetness-- Kimchi!

I've pickled cucumbers, I've pickled carrots, now I'm pickling napa cabbage. I don't know why I suddenly felt the urge to *attempt* to make kimchi-- maybe because my aunt made it last month and my suitemate had a tub of it in the fridge-- that I suddenly felt like I wanted to make it. I pickled the cabbage overnight in a salt brine. I used about 4 cups of water to 1.5 pounds of napa cabbage, then set a plate over it. The pickled cabbage will smell terrible if you don't refrigerate, just so you know.

So I added my own variety of ingredients such as sliced ginger root, scallions, garlic, julienne carrots and cucumbers. Don't forget the chili paste and chili powder to give it that signature red hue!

Kimchi

• 1 head (~1.5 lb) napa cabbage
• 4-5 cups of water
• 2 tablespoons coarse salt
  

Wash (and wash it well! because napa cabbage tends to be dirty!) and cut up into square pieces. Mix salt, water and soak cabbage in brine. Don't worry if the water doesn't completely cover, because the cabbage will soften up as it pickles. For this reason, remember to set a big plate over the cabbage to weigh it down.

• shredded ginger
• julienne carrots
• julienne cucumbers
  
• minced garlic
• korean chili paste
  
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar (more or less to taste)
  
• reserved salt-brine
  

prepare all the ingredients, and mix them all together. Use the reserved salt-brine to sort of soak up the kimchi half way or until the desired dilution. Yep. Kimchi, yay.