Going into the busy months ahead, it was time to make my staple condiment. Spicy, salty and sour - with similar satisfaction of eating kimchi (김치), minus the garlic aftertaste. It adds a kick to a bowl of plain rice and cuts through the richness in fatty meat and other fried dishes (better yet, fried meat dishes).
This time around, it felt like as though I was doing my own kim jang (김장), a tradition of preparing kimchi for the whole winter in late fall. Although it's a version of simple pickle (just adding salty, acidic liquid and keeping it in the fridge vs. fermented pickle which kimchi falls into), I was participating in the tradition of preparing pickled vegetables for the winter in my own way.
Pickle Recipe) Boil soy sauce with lemon slices, then pour the liquid over the sliced jalapenos and onions (about 2:1 ratio). Adjust seasoning with lemon juice to your tartness!
Over time, I boiled soy sauce with other ingredients to add more flavor - a sliced carrot, a couple of sliced celery stocks, black peppercorns, a bay leaf, sometimes a couple of cloves, and whatever else happens to be available that would make the pickle taste good (and the experiment fun). Tie the peppercorns, bay leaf, and cloves together in cheesecloth to make it easy to take it out afer cooling the concoction. I make about 2 quarts at a time and keep it in the refrigerator.
| TIPS! | |
| Soy Sauce for Later) The soy sauce liquid for the pickle is also a great base for other sauces - dipping sauce for potstickers, marinade for bulgogi (불고기), seasoning for stews, to name a few. In addition to the typical soy sauce taste, this flavored base brings in the spiciness from jalapeno, tartness from lemon juice, and sweetness from onions and other vegetables. | |
| KOREAN WORDS | ||||
| onion | 양파 | (yang pa) | ||
| carrot | 당근 | (dang gun) | ||
| soy sauce | 간장 | (gan jang) | ||
