Opportunities to learn is always around. And I learned kimchi making.

Thank God I have so many wonderful friends. Friends are the people who make our lives beautiful and interesting. As someone who is always eager to learn new things, was I overjoyed to know that this lady friend was not only beautiful but also one who knows so much. We were shopping for new year things when we discussed the topic of food and she mentioned that she knew how to make kimchi, a Korean food that I had wanted to make for myself for some time but did not because I knew not the exact way it could be done. Kimchi is one of those healthy food that requires no cooking.

And she was so eager to help me make it. So, on one of her holidays from work, we went to a supermarket nearby to buy the ingredients. We searched for two fairly large Chinese cabbages, small onions, garlic, fish sauce, chilli powder, and sweet flour. We found all those ingredients but no sweet flour. She told me it could be replaced with corn flour and a little sugar. According to her, it could even be left out. So, I voted to do without the flour.

Upon reaching my home, she helped me to cut the cabbage lengthwise into into four parts. Then she applied salt in between each leaf of the cabbage. It was left aside for some time; after which the salted cabbage was washed and wrung as dry as possible.

In the meantime, as the cabbage was being salted, the onions were pealed. As for the garlic, they were smashed with the side of the knife and skinned. Having done that, we could blend the onions and the galic together with the chilli. However, I could not find my dry blender and so had to resort to the wet blender which meant that water had to be added. Due to that we had no alternative but to cook the blended ingredients on a slow fire. However, once it reached boiling point, we removed the ingredients from the fire. Then we added in some salt and sugar as well as the fish sauce.

Next, it was applying the blended ingredients to the wrung cabbage, again leaf by leaf so that every part of the cabbage was seasoned with the ingredients. The seasoned cabbage was then put into a glass container and left overnight during which time there is some fermentation. The next morning, the container with the kimchi was put into the refrigerator for two days before it was taken out to be consumed.

The kimchi was delicious, not too spicy and just sweet and saltish enough to please my palate. So, through this friend I have learned how to make delicious kimchi.

Of course, just as some people do not fancy yogurt, there are also those who do not go for kimchi as I soon found out. I offered my sister-in-law some but she immediately refused. She had tasted it once and it was no in favour of the taste. I tried to persuade her to try it as it is done by one beautiful friend who certainly knows how to make good kimchi. Once beaten, twice shy; once dislike, never deny. Well, accept it, it takes all types to make a world.