By Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee, Special to the Times

Wednesday, September 15, 1999

While shopping at a Korean grocery the other day, I saw two little girls in the produce section. They were both limply hanging onto the shopping cart like little rag dolls as their mom meticulously picked out nappa cabbages for their kimchi. Seeing their bored faces took me back to my younger days and having to help my mother.

The monthly kimchi-making was how the neighborhood women saved money and found out the latest gossip. I remember how my sister and I hated squatting on the kitchen floor with the rest of them, peeling garlic as the pungent scent of chile powder made our noses itch.

Listening to their mindless chatter about people I vaguely knew and peeling clove after clove of the endless pile of garlic: It was all I could do to stay awake. The only thing that would cure me of my drowsiness was the morsel of fresh kimchi that my mom would put into my mouth.

When most Koreans hear the word kimchi, the image commonly conjured up is that of the traditional type made with nappa cabbage. Although this kind is the best known, kimchi can be made with a variety of vegetables, spices and other ingredients. It is also prepared in different ways and to different degrees of fermentation.

Even when the older women get together today, there is always a lot of bickering and boasting about which is the correct way to make kimchi, how to cut things, how much of what to put in and what not. Now that I'm older, I sometimes put in my two cents' worth, but I generally like to listen and learn from the other women.

Unfortunately, younger women like me don't get together to make kimchi. Because of our modern lives, some of us make it alone or buy it at the store.

But as long as there are enough weary little girls peeling garlic in the kitchen with their mothers, kimchi is a tradition that will not die.

RECIPE

Cook's Tip: Buchu, top, or wild leeks, and ponytail radishes, in the below recipes, are commonly used kimchi ingredients. They can be found at most Korean stores.

Traditional Nappa Cabbage Kimchi

Active Work Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

*Total Preparation Time: 4 hours 30 minutes plus 2 to 3 days standing:

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon salt

1/2 gallon water

2 heads nappa cabbage, cut in quarters or 2-inch wedges, depending on size of cabbage

1 head garlic, cloves separated and peeled

2 (1-inch) pieces ginger root

1/4 cup fish sauce or Korean salted shrimp, optional

1 daikon, peeled and grated

1 bunch green onions, cut into 1-inch lengths

1 bunch mustard greens, chopped into 1-inch pieces

1/2 cup Korean ground chile

1 teaspoon sugar, optional

Sesame oil, optional

Sesame seeds, optional

* Dissolve 1 cup salt in water. Soak cabbage in salt water 3 to 4 hours.

* Combine garlic, ginger and fish sauce or shrimp in food processor or blender until finely minced.

* In large bowl, combine daikon, green onions, mustard greens, garlic mixture, chile, 1 tablespoon salt and sugar. Toss gently but thoroughly. (If mixing with your hands, be sure to wear rubber gloves to avoid chile burn.)

* Remove cabbage from water and rinse thoroughly. Drain cabbage in colander, squeezing as much water from the leaves as possible. Take cabbage and stuff daikon mixture between leaves, working from outside in, starting with largest leaf to smallest. Do not overstuff, but make sure daikon mixture adequately fills leaves. When entire cabbage is stuffed, take another big leaf and wrap tightly around rest of cabbage. Divide cabbage among 4 (1-quart) jars, pressing down firmly to remove any air bubbles.

* Let sit 2 to 3 days before serving. Remove kimchi from jar and slice into 1-inch-length pieces. If serving before kimchi is fermented, sprinkle with little bit of sesame oil and sesame seeds. Refrigerate after opening.

 4 quarts. Each 1/4 cup: 8 calories; 455 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 0 fat; 2 grams carbohydrates; 0 protein; 0.38 gram fiber.