Can any of you asian cooks check this out? (Lake Zurich)

http://greengardenlz.com/

It's a Chinese restaurant. On weekdays they have a buffet at lunch time. And in this buffet they have an off the menu item they call "kim chee." It consists mostly of long cut radish in some sort of spicy vinegar base with chili peppers. Some sort of weird spicy crunchy side salad. They wont let me order it to go and its made as a small batch daily for the buffet. But damn its so tasty!

I've gone to many Korean grocery stores and have not seen anything like it. I was curious if anyone has eaten there who would know what this stuff is because I'd like to make it myself.

Hi,

At H-Mart in Niles (Oakton & Waukegan Roads), they have a wide range of panchan. Panchan are those small dishes of pickled vegetables, fermented cabbage (kim chi), potato salad and various fish preparations served with Korean meals.

What you described sounds like a daikon radish pickle. There are recipes for it on the internet in varying degrees of sweet-sour to spicy. Very easy to make at home, because I do it myself.

Regards,

The daikon radish kimchi is called "ggakdugi/kkakdugi kimchi." I found a recipe for it here. I'm pretty certain I've seen it at Chicago Kimchi, if that's the stuff you're looking for, but it may be a bit of a drive for you.

Chicago Kimchi
3648 West Lawrence Avenue
Chicago, IL

You can buy all types of panchan and the kimchee you are looking for at Seoul Market at Dundee and Arlington Heights Road in Buffalo Grove. Not too far a drive from Lake Zurich. It is a fully stocked Korean owned grocery. However, H Mart, mentioned above, is much larger and more comprehensive than Seoul Market and, as a huge plus, has an awesome food court. Assi Plaza on Milwaukee near Dempster in Niles, a Koren store, also has a large full service grocery and food court.

Seoul Market
1204 Dundee Road
Buffalo Grove, IL 60089-4016
(847) 870-9575

Assi Plaza
8901 N Milwaukee Ave
Niles, IL 60714
(847) 470-9450

Binko wrote:The daikon radish kimchi is called "ggakdugi/kkakdugi kimchi." I found a recipe for it here. I'm pretty certain I've seen it at Chicago Kimchi, if that's the stuff you're looking for, but it may be a bit of a drive for you.

Chicago Kimchi
3648 West Lawrence Avenue
Chicago, IL

Thanks for the locations guys. I looked all over google images and this is probably the closest to what it looks like. The only difference is when it's served it doesn't have any green on top and all the radish is facing in one direction.

That looks more like moo-saeng-chae than kimchi. It's thinly cut radish doused with vibegar, hot pepper powder and sugar? Not so sure on recipe, but it's different from kimchi in that it's not fermented, but rather made fresh. Here are some recipes for it:

http://www.recipezaar.com/Moo-Saeng-Cha ... lad-157722
http://www.vegsource.com/articles/litt1.htm

Enjoy!

You know, to me, that looks more like the Chinese cabbage with chili oil that you get as a starter at places like Lao Sze Chuan and Spring World in Chinatown - since it was a Chinese place, I wonder if the name was misleading. Was there a nutty, sesame oil flavor to what you had, along with the heat?

I've never made it, but if I was going to try, I'd google GWiv's chili oil recipe and just make a kind of coleslaw using very white cabbage and the chili oil as a dressing.

Mhays wrote:You know, to me, that looks more like the Chinese cabbage with chili oil that you get as a starter at places like Lao Sze Chuan and Spring World in Chinatown - since it was a Chinese place, I wonder if the name was misleading. Was there a nutty, sesame oil flavor to what you had, along with the heat?

I've never made it, but if I was going to try, I'd google GWiv's chili oil recipe and just make a kind of coleslaw using very white cabbage and the chili oil as a dressing.

No sesame oil - it definitely had vinegar, a little garlic.. I'm pretty sure going off memory there wasn't any oil of any kind.

The problem with my picture above and the one from Lao Sze Chuan is everything looks like a mess. The restaurant I found this dish really did it with great knife work and presentation.

I'm with einberliner, I think it's moo saeng chae, which is not a fermented dish like most kimchi. The radish is cut pretty thinly, usually done by mandoline, which maybe explains the good knife skills. Also since you say the dish is made daily, it leads me to also think it is moo saeng chae. Too bad we're stuck in the wilderness of central IL, otherwise I would try to make a trip up to LZ to check it out...