Hey everybody, hope you're all doing well today. About to make some bok choy kimchi and something is bothering me.
In most recipes for kimchi I've seen, the rice flour porridge is used. From what I've learned this is both a "glue" of sorts, as well as food for the ferment. Like others, I use Maangchi as a pushing off point for all the kimchi I make. She's great. However, for bok choy kimchi specifically she has 2 recipes: 1 online and 1 in her cookbook (thank you library). The former omits the porridge, while the latter is more similar to most napa kimchi and uses it. ALL of the bok choy kimchi recipes I find online seem intended for fresh kimchi and omit it. This recipe in a physical cookbook is all I could really find including porridge in bok choy specifically. Kind of what drew me to ask this, it seems so standout.
My understanding is that bok choy kimchi, and any other kimchi, that omits the rice porridge, is meant to be served fresh. Even in her video, Maangchi mentions to go light on the seasoning because you want to see the "green" when serving. But she still says you can ferment it like normal. If that's my intended path to begin with, should I just use the porridge? I like fresh kimchi but I LOVE fermented kimchi more.
And if I do, I should adjust the seasoning for overall salt content ya?
It's a long post for a simple ask, but I intend to use whatever I learn here and carry it over to all the other veggies I turn into kimchi. And I'd like it to be excellent and as authentic as I can get it. Googling this stuff is a minefield of varying usefulness. Don't get me started on using fresh or salted seafood in the mix... That's a different day's question lol.
Thank you in advance for any advice.