Japchae!

    Today for dinner I made Japchae, which is similar to a vegetable stir fry with vermicelli noodles (sweet potato starch) that have a glassy appearance to them when cooked.

    There are quite a few steps to creating this dish as each vegetable with stirfried separately to maintain color and the perfect crunch.

   I made it with chicken, as that is what I had on hand, but traditionally it is prepared with beef.  The seasoning was simple enough, but also put in in stages. There was garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil, and sesame seeds for the seasoning.  I was delighted with how it turned out!

Kimchi and Kimjang

Freshly jarred Kimchi!

My Napa Cabbage

    
  Kimchi makes me happy. :)  Making my own makes me even happier because it means we will be well supplied from now on! =D

     

      When I first tasted Kimchi I remember exactly where I was standing.  The first little bite I had made me grimace, I remember thinking how pungent the smell and taste was!  How could you eat FERMENTED cabbage??  Weird. But...every so often, I would try again, take a little nibble.  It was strangely appealing. Before long I look forward to eating Korean so we could have a little Kimchi!  Fast-forward three years and I found myself longing to have some good Kimchi yet living in a place that it isn't easy to procure.  I could just feel my body telling me I needed to eat some!

Example of many different Onggi from Google

     As I prepared Kimchi today the traditional way (using whole cabbages and covering each leaf individually with paste as opposed to chopping it up and mixing it all together in a large bowl) I thought a great deal of the history behind this dish, particularly the "Kimjang" .  The Kimjang is a very important yearly event in Korea when families take turns going to each others houses to prepare the years supply of Kimchi. Although today it is not as necessary as it once was, it is still a time honored tradition in many parts of Korea. One family may have 200 cabbages to prepare from their garden a year.  That is a lot of work - the making of Kimchi includes the mincing of garlic, onions, ginger, chopping of vegetables, cooking of rice porridge, to name just a few of the many tasks! After everyone in the village helped a family prepare their Kimjang Kimchi they each received a jar for their assistance, this was a way that even the poor could eat through the winter!  The women would stuff their Kimchi into claypots, called Onggi, and bury them in the ground to maintain temperature, yet not freeze, throughout the winter.  Whenever they needed more Kimchi they would go dig up a pot!
 

Our Korean dinner: Rice, Kimchi, Bulgogi

     I considered the women coming together for this last arduous task before the hard work of the year yielded their supply.  There was something about knowing that I undertook a task that women centuries before me undertook themselves...that we each salted the leaves, made rice porridge, spread the paste over the leaves that grounded me.  That we thought of our children, our families, as we make this work of our hands.  Our gift.  For them it meant securing their survival possibly, for me it was becoming about connecting with wives, mothers, sisters, across space and time. It gave me a sense that I was a part of something bigger than just me, a part of my children's and husband's ethnic culture.  I read that the Kimjang was a time when neighborhood women would get caught up on the news and see old friends.  It was looked forward to as a time of relationship.  I can only imagine how rewarding to see so many friends and come together for the goal of providing for your family for the winter, then seeing that goal accomplished.

Love the bright red of Kimchi Paste!

     I asked my Warrior Ninja if he remembered anything like the Kimjang when he was little and still living in South Korea.  He said no but shared with me that he remembers eating Kimchi almost everyday and has a memory of one of the Onggi (the clay pot) being dug up.  He was living on his extended families chili pepper farm and he said he remembers being on the side of a path on a hill and watching the adults dig out a pot.  He said that it had a wooden lid and was covered in cloth.  This was so that when they took the cloth off no dirt was in danger of getting into the Kimchi.  He remembers being excited because he knew Kimchi was going to be in that pot and when they opened it there was such a strong Kimchi smell!  As he told me the story he looked like he could still smell the delicious Kimchi he was waiting for!

     I will need to make more Kimchi soon as we have already eating about a quarter of what I made!  The actual process of making Kimchi I got from combining ideas from the cookbook "Discovering Korean Cuisine: Recipes from the Best Korean Restaurants in Los Angeles" and from Maangchi's website.  You can see the recipe and a wonderful video she has on making Kimchi by clicking here.  She has very detailed step by step instructions.

     It took me seven hours.  It probably only should have taken 3ish from start to finish.  But I did it between changing diapers (yes, I washed my hands after each time), taking care of sickies, nursing the baby, and moving a big pile of chopped wood from the path of the propane truck.  I am stubborn.  I accomplished it anyway.  If I waited until a complete chunk of time that I could smoothly get something done in without interruptions it would never happen; I have learned that if I really want to accomplish something out of the ordinary I can't think of the difficulties I just have to DO and keep going back to it until its done.  So there you have it.  Between diapers today I accomplished the dream of making my own Kimchi from start to finish. Someday, when the kids are grown, the process will seem simple to me because it no longer takes seven hours, only three. :)

   What dreams have you accomplished lately?  Please share!  I love to see what others are doing between the "diapers" of life!