Main ingredients 🥩
cucumberssmall green onionsgochugarusand lance fish sauceminced garlicminced gingerplum syrup
Hong Shin-ae's Oi Sobagi
A crisp, rice-stealing summer kimchi that stays crunchy without turning mushy, using the secret boiling salt water shower method.
🙋 Recommended for
- ⭐ For those who have failed at making oi sobagi because the cucumbers always turned mushy quickly.
- ⭐ For those who want to learn a refreshing, crunchy, golden-ratio kimchi that will stimulate your appetite in summer.
Ingredients needed 🛒3 servings
- 3 white cucumbers
- a handful of small green onions (or chives)
- 3–4 tbsp gochugaru
- 3 tbsp sand lance fish sauce
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 1/2 tbsp minced ginger
- a little plum syrup
- coarse salt, as needed
- 1.5L water
Recipe 🍳
- Wash the cucumbers clean, cut them into bite-sized pieces (half the length of regular sobagi), and make a cross-shaped (+) cut leaving 1 cm at the bottom.
- Add 1 tbsp coarse salt to 1.5L water and bring to a rolling boil.
- Place the cucumbers on a tray, pour the boiling salt water evenly over them to shower them, then let them cool naturally without rinsing in cold water.
- Cut the small green onions into finger-length pieces.
- In a bowl, combine 2 tbsp minced garlic and 1/2 tbsp minced ginger (4:1 ratio), mix in the fish sauce, gochugaru, and plum syrup, then add the chopped green onions to make the stuffing.
- Once the cucumbers are completely cooled, apply a very small amount of coarse salt evenly into the cross-shaped cuts.
- Stuff the seasoning mixture tightly into the cuts, leaving no gaps.
- Place the oi sobagi neatly in a container, let it ferment at room temperature for about a day, then store in the refrigerator and serve chilled.
- Cut the cucumbers and make cuts, then pour boiling salt water over them and let cool for a crisp texture.
- Mix garlic, ginger, fish sauce, gochugaru, and plum syrup with green onions to make the kimchi stuffing.
- Lightly salt the cuts, then fill thoroughly with the seasoning mixture to finish.
Cooking tips 💡
- Instead of boiling cucumbers in salt water, simply pouring hot water over the surface ensures the seeds inside don't become mushy and the texture stays crisp for a long time.
- Adding too much salt directly to the seasoning can draw out water from the vegetables and make them mushy, so the secret is to apply a small amount of salt directly inside the cucumbers.
- If you plan to eat the oi sobagi right after making it, be sure to add plum syrup to enhance sweetness and aid fermentation—it's key to the flavor.
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