Recipe: Yummy Cucumber Kimchi

Cucumber Kimchi. Place in a medium bowl and mix thoroughly with salt. Place cucumber pieces in a bowl, add salt, and mix until coated. Making it is as simple as it gets — the cucumbers are quick pickled in rice vinegar and flavored deeply with gochugaru, or Korean red-pepper flakes.

Cucumber kimchi (Oi Kimchi, 오이 김치) is a popular summer kimchi in Korea. My mom used to make either a quick cucumber kimchi (as seen above) or stuffed cucumber kimchi (oi sobagi, 오이 소박이) every summer. You might be wondering how these two kimchi are different? You can have Cucumber Kimchi using 14 ingredients and 7 steps. Here is how you achieve it.

Ingredients of Cucumber Kimchi

1. You need of For the veg:.
2. It's of pickling cucumbers, cut in half lengthwise, then cut into roughly 1-inch pieces.
3. You need of green onions, washed, roots trimmed, and cut into 2 inch segments.
4. Prepare of + 1 Tablespoon kosher salt (about 10% less if you're using regular table salt).
5. Prepare of For the paste:.
6. It's of minced garlic (about 5 or 6 large cloves).
7. You need of minced fresh ginger root (about a 2" segment).
8. Prepare of crushed red chili flakes (like the kind you get with your pizza) more or less depending on your heat tolerance.
9. Prepare of If you have gochugaru (Korean red chili flakes) & want to use instead of crushed red chili flakes, start with one third cup.
10. You need of steamed white rice, lightly packed (If rice is stale microwave in a bowl with 2 Tbsp of water for 60 seconds.).
11. It's of fish sauce (like Tiparos or Three Crabs).
12. It's of sugar.
13. You need of water for blending.
14. It's of water for getting the remaining seasoning off the bowl and making additional brine.

Essentially, both of them are cucumber kimchi. As such, it's an excellent alternative to the stuffed cucumber kimchi, oi sobagi (오이 소박이), if you don't want to bother stuffing the cucumbers. Because the cucumbers are cut similar to cubes, this cucumber kimchi is also called oi kkakdugi (오이깍두기), named after cubed radish kimchi — kkakdugi. A highly addictive hot dog condiment, it's best served right away, when the cucumbers are.

Cucumber Kimchi instructions

1. In a large stainless steel or mixing bowl, toss the cucumbers, green onion and salt together. Make sure to thoroughly incorporate the salt throughout the cucumber. In 20 to 30 minutes, you should start to see the cucumber release water. Let the cucumber sit for about 2 hours, tossing and redistributing every 30 minutes to ensure even brining..
2. After 2 hours, rinse the cucumber with enough water to cover by 4 inches and swishing the cucumber in the water 7 or 8 times. Remove the cucumber into a strainer and let the excess water drain while you prepare the paste..
3. Make the paste by putting all the paste ingredients into a blender and blend until you can't see the individual grains of rice. Pour the paste over the cucumber..
4. Get into the bowl with your hands and mix that paste into the cucumber until all the pieces are evenly and thoroughly coated..
5. Pack your kimchi into a bottle or other tight-lidded container (This time I repurposed a half gallon kimchi jar) and use the last 1/3 cup of water to swish around the mixing bowl, pick up all the remaining paste, and pour that liquid on top of your kimchi. Remember to leave 1 to 2 inches of headspace at the top to allow for expansion as fermentation takes place..
6. Your cucumber kimchi is now ready for fermentation in a dark but not cold place like the inside of your cupboard. Or, if you can find a warmish spot in your garage, you can put it there. (I know that's not always possible for cold climate people in the middle of winter.).
7. This is the kimchi after about 3 days of fermentation..

Oi Sobagi (cucumber kimchi) is a delicious kimchi with a refreshing taste and crunchy texture. In Korea, Oi Sobagi is more often enjoyed during the spring and summer time when cucumbers are in season. However, you can enjoy it for any meals at any time of the year. Summary: Cucumber kimchi is one of favorite summer side dish. You can enjoy fresh cucumber flavour as well as tangy taste of kimchi.