I tried making my first jar of kimchi a few months ago. It was a fascinating experiment that I can see myself getting into, despite accidentally getting chilli in my eyes - a lesson I learned the hard way, especially if you use contact lenses.
When massaging gochugaru with other ingredients, I recommend using gloves.
Unfortunately, I had to eat the entire jar myself because Duncan declared it inedible due to the excessive garlic (see, he doesn't always enjoy everything I cook).
I admit I went overboard with garlic - 4 cloves didn't seem like enough for a head of Chinese cabbage. It turns out that my garlic-o-meter was way off.
Still, because I despise wasting food, I opted to consume it anyway, and I've been adding tiny portions of it to my Asian-inspired lunch bowls for a long time.
I still had quite a little at the bottom of the jar that I badly wanted to use up, but I was tired of those extremely garlicky lunch bowls and wanted to try something different.
I decided to make kimchi pancakes and I enjoyed them so much that I'm excited to make another jar of kimchi (this time with a more cautious cabbage-to-garlic ratio).
I tried three different flours to make these pancakes. I started with buckwheat flour, which I really like, then standard all-purpose flour, and ultimately a store-bought gluten-free flour blend.