The Burhatong River, which originates in the marshy land at the eastern foot of the Harba Ridge, meanders through a small city in Yanbian, Jilin, China's only Korean autonomous prefecture, and soon after the autumn harvest, Yanbian is covered in thick ice and snow, turning into a white ocean. Yanbian begins winter in November and spring in April, and during the six-month winter season, Korean compatriots meet to make a delicacy that they call "winter half-yearly food."
The afternoon sun has faded into the summer heat, and Cui Jinfang is warmly shining on Cui Jinfang, who is transporting to the garden the cabbage she has just picked from the garden, which was planted in early July this year, and the cabbage is made from the varieties with tight hearts and tender leaves, and it is also the best ingredients to make delicious food.
Break off the old gang and wash it, cut 10 cm from the root with a knife, then break it in half by hand, and marinate it in homemade brine for about six hours, "It is best to use about 3 years of aged salt for table salt, and the bitterness in the cabbage will naturally be dispersed, and the taste will be better!" ”
Although Cui Jinfang has stocked enough spicy cabbage for this winter, she also has to prepare for the daily "floating morning market". "I sell kimchi at the floating morning market from five to eight o'clock in the morning, and when I finish selling, I go home and continue pickling kimchi." Cui Jinfang's children are working hard outside, and although they all urge her to rest well, she just wants to stick to her daily fun: "I have been making kimchi for more than 20 years, and I am used to this kind of life, if I don't let me make kimchi one day, I will be exhausted."
As Yanbian "winter half-yearly grain" spicy cabbage, spicy cabbage is a Korean food passed down from generation to generation, in Korean families, whether coarse tea light rice or fine wine and food, are inseparable from spicy cabbage to accompany the meal, without this delicious side dish, there will always feel some shortcomings. Nowadays, although it is not difficult to obtain fresh vegetables in winter, this pickled kimchi with a unique flavor has become a delicacy that Yanbian people cannot give up for a lifetime.
According to the Book of Rites, kimchi was once called Ling. In Yanbian local, Koreans call spicy cabbage "to Muqi", which translates to Chinese "kimchi". Many Korean girls began to make kimchi with their mothers at the age of six or seven, and the craft was passed down from generation to generation.
Although factory-made kimchi products are becoming more popular, Korean housewives still use traditional handmade production techniques. Every time it is time to pickle pickles, they will move out of the jar as in the past and pickle spicy cabbage, radish chunks, etc. There are a thousand tastes for a thousand housewives, the only thing that is the same is that they all carry the smell of their mother.
It's already dark, after rinsing the salted cabbage with running water, Cui Jinfang evenly applied the made kimchi sauce to the cabbage, "You can't use gloves to apply spicy cabbage, because people's hands have temperature, one can control the spiciness, and the other is to promote absorption, so my hands are always red, in fact, they are cold water blistered, spicy by chili peppers." Finally, it is put into a large vat in its own cellar and sealed for fermentation, and after half a month, each ripe and fresh cabbage will become a qualified pickle.
Take out the pickles that have long been pickled from the cellar, under the rich red hot sauce, the fermented spicy cabbage, from the side dishes used to accompany rice, to the pies, bibimbap, fried rice, kimchi soup, is definitely the ordinary "protagonist" on the Korean table on the mainland!
Under Cui Jinfang's hands, spicy cabbage can be eaten in a variety of ways: if you want to stir-fry, choose pork with three layers of flowers, first stir-fry pork with some oil, put in spicy cabbage to stir-fry, add water and simmer for a while, the cabbage becomes soft and the juice comes out of the pot. pork belly soaked with spicy cabbage, fat but not greasy; Spicy cabbage with pork belly fat absorbed, crispy taste, with rice, you can come to two more bowls!
If you want to drink soup, prepare potatoes, enoki mushrooms, frozen tofu and other side dishes, heat the oil into the pot, stir-fry the spicy cabbage over high heat, pour in the side dishes and add water, boil over high heat, lift the lid of the pot, the spicy and sour taste instantly enters the nose!
But for Cui Jinfang, her favorite is spicy cabbage fried rice, which is just two simple ingredients, spicy cabbage and rice, but can collide with an addictive unique flavor! Just stir-fry the spicy cabbage in hot oil and then pour in the rice, stir-fry evenly, after a while, the rice grains absorb the red soup of the spicy cabbage, the red is translucent, the particles are full, the rice is slightly spicy, packed in a large white porcelain bowl, red and clear, dotted with a few green leafy lettuce, on top lies a white but vaguely visible egg yolk fried egg, like a gentle sun in the morning sun, mixed with spicy cabbage rice sour and spicy refreshing, eat a bite, you can't forget.
At five o'clock the next morning, Cui Jinfang had arrived at the floating morning market, and she was going to set up a stall to sell her own kimchi. The morning market on the water is not on the water, but along the water's edge, shaped like a boat, and at a glance, there are a variety of Korean snacks. The morning market on the water usually ends at eight or nine o'clock, and at half past seven, the kimchi brought by Cui Jinfang has been sold out: "Watching everyone come to buy my kimchi, praise me for the deliciousness of what I make, don't mention how happy I am!" ”
The ancient production technology and traditional folk culture have mixed the taste of cabbage, the taste of hot sauce and the taste of fermentation, and over the years, they have gradually formed unique food customs and passed down from generation to generation, becoming a unique taste in the taste buds of Korean compatriots