{"id":19466,"date":"2017-06-10T17:16:32","date_gmt":"2017-06-10T15:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=19466"},"modified":"2017-06-10T17:19:18","modified_gmt":"2017-06-10T15:19:18","slug":"armenian-cucumber-kimchi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=19466","title":{"rendered":"Armenian Cucumber Kimchi"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"This is the most recent kimchi recipe\u00a0in my collection, and,\u00a0most of all,\u00a0a\u00a0short report on my recent vegetable – or rather a fruit –\u00a0discovery. A week ago I saw\u00a0Armenian cucumbers for the first time in my life. I had never tasted them\u00a0before, the shop assistant either, but they were locally grown and organic, so I was even more tempted.\u00a0First,\u00a0avoiding risks,\u00a0I served half of it\u00a0as a simple side-dish with vinaigrette\u00a0and it\u00a0was so good, I decided to try\u00a0the remaining part\u00a0in kimchi. Freshly made and after four days, it\u00a0was particularly crunchy, refreshing and perfect for the summer heat, but\u00a0I am also\u00a0sure\u00a0that, contrary to standard\u00a0cucumber, this one might\u00a0keep crunchy\u00a0for long months…<\/p>\n

Armenian cucumber (Cucumis melo var. flexuosus<\/em>), also known as snake cucumber or serpent cucumber, is apparently closest to muskmelon,\u00a0but also related to standard cucumbers. As its name suggests, it apparently originated in Armenia but nowadays is cultivated in many countries, such as USA or Japan. (From what I have noticed online Japanese\u00a0uri\u00a0look a bit different and all have smooth skin,\u00a0though probably share the same texture and flavours)\u00a0Armenian cucumber\u00a0is less watery and much crunchier than\u00a0any standard cucumber variety (the texture is closer to a small young courgette). It has a very thin skin which makes peeling unnecessary (though I never peel cucumbers anyway) and, though its taste bears some resemblance \u00a0to the cucumber, its flavours are more delicate and it’s much crunchier.\u00a0I already see myself experimenting a lot with this new summer discovery, so I hope I’ll be able to see it on sale\u00a0more often!<\/p>\n

For those who have never heard of kimchi (\uae40\uce58), it is a\u00a0preparation of fermented vegetables with dried chili peppers and other seasonings and has a very long history,\u00a0though chilli was\u00a0added only in XVIth century. (In fact, there exists also a \u201cwhite\u201d kimchi version, without chilli). Apart from the chili, garlic, ginger and scallions are the most frequent seasoning ingredients. It also always contains a fermentation \u201cenhancer\u201d such as fish sauce, raw shrimp, raw oysters or fermented fish.<\/em><\/p>\n

Kimchi has a very powerful smell, but once you taste it and love it, the smell will never be associated with anything unpleasant. It is spicy, hot, sour and, like most fermented vegetables, very healthy. Apart from being served as a side dish, kimchi (matured one) is used in fried rice, stew and soups.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Many vegetables can be made into kimchi, but Napa cabbage is the most popular and from my experience it can be kept in the fridge even for a year. I have already prepared daikon (white radish) kimchi, celery kimchi, white cabbage kimchi and cucumber kimchi which is my number one in the summer because it’s refreshing and particularly good when young, i.e. one or two weeks old.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

If you don’t have Armenian cucumber, you might like one of these versions of kimchi:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Easy Cucumber Kimchi (Oi Kimchi)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Bok choy\/Pak choy kimchi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Mak Kimchi (Easy Napa Cabbage Kimchi)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
White Radish Kimchi (Kkakdugi)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Celery Kimchi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TIPS: If you make kimchi for the first time, make sure you find Korean chilli flakes. Powdered chilli of any other origin will not do here unfortunately. You probably won’t have any problems finding the remaining ingredients (I use Tha\u00ef fish sauce, which is available in practically all the Asian shops).<\/p>\n

If your kimchi grows mould or has an weird\u00a0smell after fermenting (though sometimes to recognise it you must be familiar with the normal kimchi smell…), it means the container is not airtight. Apart from special kimchi containers, I\u00a0strongly recommend Lock&Lock containers, which are airtight, keep for years and are BPA free. They are available all around the world, I think (I buy them online though).<\/p>\n

This kimchi is quite versatile: it can be eaten straight away as a kind of spicy side-dish or fermented for two days and kept for a long time\u00a0in the fridge (see below).<\/p>\n

Do not peel Armenian cucumbers. The skin is very thin, delicious and probably packed with fibers.<\/p>\n

Carrot is optional. I add it from time to time. Toasted sesame seeds are also optional. You can add them while preparing kimchi or just before serving.<\/p>\n

Preparation: 45 minutes +\u00a0chilling time or, if you ferment it, minimum\u00a01 week
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Ingredients:<\/em><\/p>\n

500 g (about 2 lb) Armenian cucumber
\n<\/em>
\n1 tablespoon coarse salt<\/em><\/p>\n

1-2 teaspoons garlic (grated or crushed)<\/em><\/p>\n

1\/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger<\/em><\/p>\n

3-4 heaped\u00a0tablespoons Korean chili flakes<\/em><\/p>\n

1 tablespoon fish sauce<\/em><\/p>\n

3 green onion stalks, cut into 2 cm pieces<\/em><\/p>\n

(1 small carrot, julienned)<\/em><\/p>\n

(toasted sesame seeds)<\/em><\/p>\n

Cut the cucumber in two lengthwise. Remove the seeds with a special spoon or simply scratch this soft part with a spoon.\u00a0\u00a0Then cut the pieces once more in two lengthwise and then into thick slices.<\/p>\n

Sprinkle the cucumber pieces with salt and leave them for 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

Drain the cucumber, but do not rinse it.<\/p>\n

Add all the seasoning ingredients and combine with\u00a0the cucumber.<\/p>\n

Wait for 20-30 minutes and serve straight away (chilled) or leave for two days in an airtight jar or other non-reactive container to ferment in room temperature and then\u00a0keep in the fridge for months.<\/p>\n

If you decide to ferment them, after placing the cucumber mixture in a container, rinse the bowl in which you have mixed it with about 100 ml water and pour it over the tightly packed cucumber chunks.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the most recent kimchi recipe\u00a0in my collection, and,\u00a0most of all,\u00a0a\u00a0short report on my recent vegetable – or rather a fruit –\u00a0discovery. A week…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19480,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[125,183,133,85,205,18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19466"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19466"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19496,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19466\/revisions\/19496"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}