bok choy kimchi

i got a call last week from my friend ari saying, "The CSA gave me too much bok choy again. Can you come over and help me make bok choy kimchi? my respone, "DONE!"

my mom is not the type of person a kid goes to advice for. she's the type of mother that causes her kids to drink. BUT, she is a damn good cook, so i braced myself and called for her kimchi-making advice. recently, she came up with a new recipe for making bok choy kimchi that's incredibly easy, quick and delicious. it doesn't require any fermenting but still seems to keep well for at least 2 weeks.

mom's recipe is below but please note that there is no such thing as precise measurement in my family. we cook on instinct and gut feelings about what tastes good. highly inexact and frustrating for people who need precise recipes but this is what ol' school cookin' is all about. nonetheless, i've provided guesstimates of the ingredients.

Ingredients:

- 6-7 lbs. baby bok choy (regular bok choy is OK, too, and if you want to make less, adjust all other ingredients accordingly.)
- salt (coarse kosher salt is best)
- 1 apple (any sweet kind), peeled, seeded and chopped into big chunks
- 1 asian pear (a bosc pear is a good substitute), peeled, seeded and chopped into big chunks
- 3 very red bell peppers, seeded and chopped into big chunks
- 1 bulb of garlic, peeled

- 1 nub of ginger about 1 3/4-inch long, peeled

- 1 bunch of scallions, chopped into 1-inch pieces
- juice of 1 large lemon
- 2 tablespoons toasted, crushed sesame seeds
- 3 tablespoons (or more if you like) korean hot red pepper powder (do not use cayenne, any mexican chilies, red pepper flakes a la pizza parlor or any other substitutes. go to a korean market and get the real deal or don't bother making kimchi.)
- vietnamese nuoc mam (aka, fish sauce. i prefer the THREE CRABS BRAND, which has 3 crabs on the bottle. traditional korean kimchi is usually made with a very salty korean shrimp paste made with teeny, tiny shrimp or raw oysters. using the fish sauce was a good idea on mom's part because this gives the kimchi a fresher taste and doesn't require fermentation since nuoc mam is already fermented.)

Prep:

- chop bok choy to desired size and wash in a colander.

- leave bok choy in the colander and sprinkle a generous amount of salt (about small handful) on bok choy and mix thoroughly until all pieces are lightly salted. let salted bok choy sit for about 15-20 minutes until and the leaves have lost their crispness and are flexible and a fair amount of water has drained out (depending on how young and tender the bok choy is, this could take less or more time). then, wash bok choy in cold water again until all salt is washed off. let bok choy drain.

- place the apple, pear, red peppers, garlic and ginger in a food processor and chop until all ingredients are finely minced and they become a chunky, sauce-like mixture.
- in large bowl, mix drained bok choy, fruit mixture, scallions, lemon juice, sesame seeds and hot red pepper powder. using your hands works best for the mixing and that's how the old korean ladies do it.
- as you're mixing, add the nuoc mam little by little, tasting along the way, until the kimchi is slightly below your desired saltiness level. it's hard to guage exactly how much to add because the bok choy was already salted, so you just have to keep tasting and adding a little at a time.
- once all the ingredients are mixed together, let the kimchi sit for at least 15 minutes before eating. all the flavors will marry and intensify and reach desired level of saltiness.