Kimchee Base Recipe

Ingredients:

• Kosher salt, to taste
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
• 1 tablespoon dried wakame seaweed, rehydrated in hot water and squeezed dry
• 1 large shallot, rough chopped
• 4 cloves garlic
• 3/4 cup gochugaru Korean chili flakes (See Cook’s Tips)
• 1/2 Asian pear, peeled, core removed and rough chopped

Directions:

1. In a blender, add all ingredients except chili flakes and salt. Blend until smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl.
2. Stir in chili flakes and mix into a thick paste. Season with salt, to taste. It should be salty, but not overwhelmingly so.
3. Store in a sealed container in the fridge with a piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap pressed against the surface to keep it from oxidizing. Use within 3 months or freeze for longer storage.
4. Cook’s Tips:
5. Gochugaru is a red chili flake used in traditional kimchee and other Korean recipes. It has a distinctively bright red color, sweet taste, and medium heat. Find it at any Korean market or Asian grocery store. Gochagaru is available finely ground into a powder or coarsely ground into flakes. We recommend the coarse version for this recipe.
6. For a more traditional version, substitute the soy sauce with fish sauce and seaweed with Korean salted shrimp. Korean salted shrimp, or saeujeot, is a flavorful fermented condiment made from tiny shrimp and salt. It is an umami-rich ingredient used in traditional kimchee paste and other sauces. It’s salty enough to last for months in the fridge so don’t worry about using up the whole jar at once. A little goes a long way.