Gat kimchi

Gat Kimchi

Course	Banchan (반찬)
Place of origin	South Korea
Region or state	South Korea (대한민국)
Main ingredients	Indian mustard
Cookbook: Gat Kimchi   Media: Gat Kimchi

Gat Kimchi (갓김치) is a variety of kimchi Korean side dish prepared with mustard leaves.

Origin

Gat Kimchi (갓김치) is also popularly known as Chinese Mustard Kimchi in English. This Kimchi variety is from the Dolsan Island (돌산도) of the South Jeolla Province (전라남도) in South Korea.

The South Jeolla Province or Jeollanam-do is a province in the south-west of South Korea. The province is home to the warmest weather on the peninsula. This helps to produce large amounts of agricultural products, mainly rice, wheat, barley, pulses, potatoes, vegetables, cotton, and fruits. Among them, the Chinese mustard is the most famous from Dolsan Island in South Korea.

Gat in the Dolsan area in Yeosu (여수시), Jeollanam-do (전라남도) is famous and is commonly called Dolsangat (돌산갓). Dolsangat is an improved variety that the Japanese brought and cultivated during the Japanese colonial period. The leaves are large, the flesh is large, the spicy taste is slightly strong, and there is a characteristic scent. Kimchi made with this dolsangat is loved as a local food in Jeolla Province.

Gat Kimchi Varieties

The Dolsan Gat Kimchi, unlike the common Gat Kimchi, has a unique scent and taste because it grew up under stormy weather. The Dolsan Gat (mustard) is famous all around Korea. Dolsan gat raised in Dolsan island, where the temperature falls below freezing, with sea winds is surprisingly soft and has great texture. It gained its fame about 30 years ago. Dolsan gat has a higher level of protein than other vegetables. Also, it contributes to an abundant level of Vitamin C and A. Dolsan Gat Kimchi uses Dolsan gat as the main ingredient with seasoning made of green onion, red pepper powder, garlic, ginger, myeolchi jeotgal (멸치 젓갈 or pickled anchovy), and shrimp. This uniquely spicy taste of gat mixed with Jeotgal’s fermented taste brings out people’s appetite.

The other common Gat Kimchi variety is prepared with mustard leaves (Gat) that are coated in a spicy mixture of chili flakes, red pepper, onion, ginger, garlic, finely sliced scallions, and (optionally) fermented anchovy paste to give a strong and distinctive flavour. The greens are roughly chopped before they are coated in the paste and left to ferment. Gat Kimchi tastes different based on its way of growing the vegetable and the season.

Gat (Brassica juncea) – not to be confused with Khat, a plant of East African origins whose leaves are chewed as a stimulant in the Horn of Africa and the Middle East—is a nutritious plant popular in Korea and parts of China.

Gat kimchi is appreciated for the pungent flavour of the leaves that perfectly complement the spicy chili paste. Mustard leaf kimchi or Gat kimchi is usually served as banchan (반찬) – a traditional Korean side dish.

Ingredients

• Pickle part:

2 layers of red mustard (2kg);

½ radishes (600g);

Coarse salt 1.5 cups;

Water 2 cups;

• Seasoning Part:

Chives 200g;

Garlic 80g;

Onion 1 (200g);

Ginger 30g;

Jeotsal ½ cup;

Salted anchovy ½ cup;

Red pepper powder 2 cups;

Glutinous rice paste 2 cups (glutinous rice powder 2 tablespoons + water 2 cups);

Whole sesame 1 tablespoon;

Red pepper (little bit)

Preparation

'Soaking:' Pick a short, red-headed soft stem, gently rub it and then wash it, sprinkle with salt and pickle it for about 30 minutes, then rinse it once or twice, drain the water, and keep it aside. Pick a hard radish, trim it, and cut it into: 5cm × 5cm × 1cm (width×length×thickness) and pickle.

When the shade is pickled to some extent, put the trimmed green onions together, pickle, rinse 1 to 2 times, drain and tidy. Peel the onion, ginger, and garlic, and cool the glutinous rice paste. Pour the same amount of salted blackfish and salted anchovies into a boil, spread cotton cloth in a colander, and soak red pepper powder.

Add garlic, ginger, onion, glutinous rice paste to 5, and mix radish, green onion, and green onion to make seasoning. Mix green onions with seasoning, hold two or three strands together, wrap them in two and put them in a bucket, sprinkle with sesame seeds and red chilli pepper, and cook them.

Flavouring point

Gat has blue and purple colours. Purple is mainly used for Kimchi stuffing because it has a strong scent and spicy colour. When making Gat Kimchi in the Namdo region, one should add green onions to a red Gat and grind the unsweetened salted anchovy in a mixer or a grinder. When raw salted anchovy is added, it has a strong fishy smell at first, but when it is cooked, it adds a savoury taste. The black salted anchovy is used for Gat Kimchi, so add more red pepper powder than other Kimchi and add glutinous rice paste to make the seasoning even better. It has to be cooked for a long time to make it taste good.

Nutrient

Gat is enriched with a lot of minerals and vitamins A and C. It is warm in nature and tastes slightly spicy. In oriental medicine, it is said that ‘the hot taste of the body helps the circulation of energy, drives away cold energy and warms the inside’.

Gat Kimchi is also good for the eyes, stops one’s coughing, and helps prevent stroke. It has a lot of vitamin C, Beta carotene, chlorophyll being effective in preventing aging as they have anti – oxidation functions. Rather than an organic health food with abundant vitamin A, calcium, and iron, Dolsan gat kimchi is more effective in avoiding adult diseases and pernicious anemia and improving one’s health constitution.

References

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