Kale Kimchi

Inspired by my cousin Sujin, I recently made an improvement to the kale kimchi recipe.  I simply added both daikon radish and regular small red radishes and slice them half rounds instead of julienned.  Also used red Russian kale instead of curly kale.  (the radishes were salted for 20 minutes and rinsed before being added to kimchi paste)
Red Russian kale is slightly more bitter which reminds my of chong gak kimchi.  (baby daikon radish kimchi with the greens)  I personally prefer the red Russian kale over the curly kale.

Kale Kimchee

Kale is the new black.

I decided to make a kale kimchee recently, kale has become extremely popular everywhere and I thought why not.
The recipe is just like making a regular cabbage kimchee except that kale does not need to be salted.
It also takes much longer to ferment.  Kale is a very dense and dry green a lot like collard greens.
Few pointers.
* Roughly chop kale in to bite size.
* Remove the vein.

Recipe.

Ingredients
1 bunch of kale.  Roughly chopped and stem and large vein removed.

1/2 Daikon radish. Julienned

1 bunch of chopped green onions. 

Kimchee paste
1 whole garlic peeled and roughly chopped
2 inch piece of ginger peeled and roughly chopped.
Korean pepper flakes. 1 cup. depending on hot spicy you like it.
1 large Korean pear or 1 pear and 1 apple peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 onion roughly chopped.
1/4 cup of sugar
*2 tbsp cup of fish sauce (preferably 3 Crabs brand)  If not using fermented shrimp use 3 tbsp.
*3 tbsp of fermented shrimp.  (optional, they are hard to find, only sold in Asian markets)

Add all the ingredients and puree them in blender or food processor till it
becomes and paste. Should be slightly watery paste. Taste. It should taste like good kimchee.
Add the julienned radish and chopped green onions and kale.

Here is the important part. Use you hands. ( I wear rubber gloves)

I put the kale kimchee inside plastic bag then in the a large container.  It can make the container smell and the smell is hard to get rid of.
Leave it on kitchen counter for 1 week
Refrigerate for 2 week.
It should be ready to eat once it is refrigerated.
Gets better as it ages.

Kale and kimchee fried rice

I've done kimchee fried rice on this blog before but this time I've added sautéed kale to the mix.  I just wanted to show how versatile and delicious kale can be.

Kale Mac and Cheese

My grown up version of Mac and cheese.  Still cheesy, creamy and delicious.
Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of cheddar cheese
1/2 cup of monterey jack cheese
3 tbsp of butter
1 tbsp of olive oil
2 stalks of leeks chopped
1 clove of garlic chopped
4 stalks of kale vein removed and chopped
1/2 box of pasta  (whatever you like – I used Fusilli)
2 cups of milk
1 tbsp of flour
1/2 tsp of dry mustard
1/2 tsp of cayenne (Omit if you don't want it spicy)
pinch of nutmeg  (please use from whole nutmeg)
salt and pepper to taste.

Boil water for pasta, and cook the pasta 'til al dente.
In a large frying pan, heat 1 tbsp of butter and olive oil.  Be cautious not to burn the oil and butter.
Add leeks and heat 'til softened, about 5 minutes, add garlic saute for couple more minutes.
Add kale , salt and pepper, sauté 10 minutes till it's wilted. Make space in the center of the pan and add remaining butter and melt.  Add flour and mix well with butter.  Add milk stir till it comes to boil and thickens.  Lower the heat and add the cheese and stir til the sauce is nice and cheese.  Add pasta stir well make sure everything is incorporated.  Now is good time to taste to make sure it's well seasoned and salt and pepper if need it.  Pour everything in to a casserole dish, sprinkle the top with Parmesan cheese and bake in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes.  Let cool before serving.

Here are some photos of cooking process.