Ochi In The City

Kitchen Chronicles : Fresh Kimchi (Geotjeori)

If you're my friend on Facebook or if you follow me on Instagram, you'd know by now that I've been obsessed with Korean food since December. And no, I don't watch Korean dramas though I find them appealing. I've seen snippets of a few shows on Facebook and the story line does look interesting--but at this point, I just don't have the energy to add more to my growing list of 31 TV shows. But if I do, I'm pretty sure it'd be the perfect combo to my growing love for Korean Food.

It all started with Youtube. I started my Youtube channel a few months back, and instead of watching make-up tutorials, I've been wasting my time watching Asian recipes. Asian cuisine is so interesting. You can go on a diet but still keep your food fun, clean and healthy! I subscribed to this Korean Mom who's vegan and loves to do amazing Korean recipes. That's how I developed my love for Korean food. I mean, she just makes everything look delicious! I would eventually go on and recommend Korean food to my friends and colleagues but they'd immediately say, "I hate Kimchi 'cause it's sour!" That statement, my friends, is what led me to this recipe. I discovered you can actually make Fresh Kimchi and it's not sour at all. Just the perfect miz of sweet, tangy, savory and spicy flavors all in one simple side dish. Let's begin!

Ingredients

For Salted Cabbage

Napa Cabbage

Water

Salt

For Kimchi Paste

Garlic

Green Onions

Gochugaru (Koream Red PepperFlakes)

Fish Sauce

Apricot Preserve

Sesame Seeds

Procedure

1. Cut the Napa Cabbage in quarters and remove the stem. Cut into bite sized pieces.

2. Mix the water and salt and pour over the cabbage. Make sure all the cabbage are well covered with water.

3. Toss the cabbage and mix well. Press down as much as possible to make sure everything is soaked.

4. Soak the cabbage for 40 minutes. Toss and turn every 15 mins or so to even out the soaking process.

5. While soaking the cabbage, mix all of the ingredients for the Kimchi Paste.

6. After 40 minutes, drain the cabbage and wash thoroughly to remove the saltiness.

7. Mix the cabbage and the paste evenly using your hands. To avoid the red color sticking to your hands, you can use plastic gloves.

8. Once well combined, top with sesame seeds and serve along side a hot cup of rice.

Notes

I didn't put any measurements on the Kimchi Paste because I just eyeballed everything. If you want it to me more salty, add more fish sauce. If you want to a more fruity flavor, add more Apricot preserve. if you want it to be more spicy, add more Korean Red Pepper Flakes and so on. Just customize it according to your taste preference! 😉 I'll be attaching a video for reference, This is the exact process I followed. The only thing I didn't follow were the measurements, lol.

Whenever I run out of the traditional fermented Kimchi, this has been my go-to side dish for all the Korean dishes I've been cooking. A lot of my friends are also more welcoming of the taste since it's not fermented thus skipping the sour taste of the traditional Kimchi! I'm thrilled to share more recipes with you guys, though I get that I've been sidetracked from my Discover Davao series, lol. I'll try to get back to that within the week, pardon the delay. Hope you guys are having an awesome week!

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Have you tried Geotjeori?

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, by Ochi Bernadas

2016 year ender

Thank You, 2016.

Hey, everyone. I hope you guys are having one hell of a comeback welcoming 2017. I just got back at work today after an amazing 2-week vacation in my hometown. And as much as I want to postpone work, I can no longer fend off the tremendous amount of work and non-work related emails that are haunting me, lol. But before I do, I want to take one last look at 2016 and round up all the things I’m eternally thankful for.

Admit it, 2016 was a shitty year. Personally, it was because of politics—and every issue that came with it that I don’t even want to talk about. Personally though, it has been an amazing year, and at least that, I want to focus on.

1. Travels with the boyfriend.

My past partners weren’t as supportive of my love for travel. All of that changed with le current boyfriend since we practically have the same goal of taking the world one destination at a time. We explored amazing destinations and shared a ton of mouth-watering food from all these places. It was an awesome year for travel!

2. I learned how to drive!

And both A/T and M/T at that! I’ve been meaning to learn how to drive for the longest time, but it wasn’t until the boyfriend pushed me inside a car and started the engine that I really learned. Driving M/T is still a struggle until now, but I’m getting the hang of it. This year, I plan to finally get my Non-pro license!

3. Conquered stage fright!

A lot of people think that just because I speak in front of an audience all the time, I don’t experience stage fright—I FREAKING DO. And all the fucking time! This year, with the help of my boss, I was involved in a lot of work and non-work related stints that helped me deal with my nerves before facing an audience.

4. I learned how to edit videos.

Earlier this year, the boyfriend got me a GoPro as a present. And while I enjoy taking photos when we travel, I realized watching our travel footage is twice as fun! I started with Sony Vegas Pro and now I’m slowly working my way to Adobe Premiere Pro. More travel videos for 2017!

5. Became serious with writing.

I’ve been a part of When in Manila’s writer pool since 2009 but never really took it seriously—meaning I didn’t take assignments nor did I bother communicating with the group. This year, I became active and involved myself more with writing assignments. So far, it’s been great!

6. Blog work, projects and events.

This year, I also upped my blogging game. Even if sometimes I still don’t get to post as often, I made sure I produce noteworthy content. And with it came a lot of sponsored posts, invites for events and collaborations with brands. And while vlogging may already be the new thing now, I’m still committed to improving my tiny space on the internet.

7. Started eating clean and healthy.

I may have gained a lot of weight last year but I started eating my veggies, also drank more water (ack!) and did a few exercises every now and then. I wasn’t consistent with my workout since I’m a lazy person but I made sure I compensate by eating my greens, hehehe.

8. Gained new friends.

Both online and offline. Since I became more active with the blog, I’ve met a lot of interesting people which I religiously followed all through Instagram and Twitter, lol. Hi, you know who you guys are! I also started becoming more friendly at work. A lot of people think I’m maldita or suplada, and I wanted to change that last year.

9. The boyfriend got me my first mirrorless camera.

I’ve been wanting to go mirrorless for a while now but at the same time couldn’t find it in me to let go of my DSLR. I couldn’t afford one—unless I sell my SLR. It was just wishful thinking when I told the boyfriend about it, so I couldn’t believe my eyes when he got it for me this Christmas. Ahhhh, more than the camera, it’s him paying attention to the things I say that made my heart melt.

10. Celebrated a year with the best boyfriend ever.

Our first year was difficult. We discovered things from each other that we don’t particularly like; but in the end, we learned to compromise. A year later, I can say we’re definitely stronger and still so smitten with each other. I can’t wait to start making more memories with this guy!💗

And there you have it. Most of the items in here involve my boyfriend because to be honest, he inspired me a lot in the past year. When he tells me the stories about everything he has been through when he got sick a few years back, my problems seem so meager all of a sudden—it’s like anything is possible as long as he’s beside me. Ugh, too cheesy! Before I go all out dramatic on this post, I shall end it here. I have an upcoming boyfriend appreciation post lined up, lol! Hope you guys had an awesome holiday vacation as much as I did. For now, back to the hustle and bustle of the metro. Here’s to making awesome memories this 2017. Cheers!