Oi Sobagi

Ingredients

Cucumbers

• 8small pickling cucumbers
• 2 tbspcoarse salt
• 500 mlhot water

Filling

• 150 gKorean chives (buchu), cut in 2 cm lengths
• 1small carrot, in fine matchsticks
• ½onion, sliced thin
• 4 tbspgochugaru
• 2 tbspfish sauce
• 1 tbspsalted shrimp, chopped
• 6 clovesgarlic, crushed
• 2cm ginger, grated
• 1 tbspsugar
• 1 tbsptoasted sesame seeds

Directions

1. Rub the cucumbers with the salt and pour over the hot water — not boiling, just hot from the tap or a kettle left a minute. Leave 30 minutes.
2. That brief hot-salt soak is the trick of oi sobagi: it firms the cucumber so it stays crunchy through the ferment rather than going hollow, which is what a cold salting alone tends to produce.
3. Rinse and drain, then cut each cucumber into a cross almost all the way through, from one end and stopping about 2 cm short of the other, so it opens into four attached quarters and stays in one piece.
4. Mix the chives, carrot, onion, gochugaru, fish sauce, salted shrimp, garlic, ginger, sugar and sesame seeds into a filling.
5. Wearing gloves, open each cucumber and pack the filling into the cuts, pressing it right into the middle.
6. Pack the stuffed cucumbers upright into a jar and press down. Rinse the filling bowl with a splash of water and pour that in too.
7. Leave at room temperature for half a day to a day until it smells faintly sour, then refrigerate.
8. Eat within a week. This is a fast summer kimchi and it goes soft and over-sour quickly — it is meant to be made often and eaten young.

Technique

• The hot-salt soak is what keeps them crunchy. Do not skip it.
• Cut a cross, not through. The cucumber has to hold together to be stuffed.
• A one-week kimchi. Do not treat it like a winter batch.

Substitutions

• Garlic chives or spring onion greens in place of Korean chives.
• Soy sauce and a little miso in place of fish sauce and shrimp, for a vegan version.
• Small ridge cucumbers, which stay firmest.

Variations

• Oi muchim is the same flavours tossed through sliced cucumber and eaten immediately, without fermenting.
• A version stuffed with radish matchsticks as well as chives.

Frequently asked questions

What is Oi Sobagi?

Oi Sobagi is a fermented & pickled from South Korea: cucumbers slit and stuffed with chive-chili filling, a fast summer kimchi.

How long does Oi Sobagi take to make?

Oi Sobagi takes 40 min plus 30 min salting and 1 day fermenting of preparation and no cooking at all. The recipe makes makes 8 stuffed cucumbers. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Oi Sobagi?

Yes, within limits. Garlic chives or spring onion greens in place of Korean chives. Soy sauce and a little miso in place of fish sauce and shrimp, for a vegan version. Small ridge cucumbers, which stay firmest.

What is the most important thing to get right in Oi Sobagi?

That brief hot-salt soak is the trick of oi sobagi: it firms the cucumber so it stays crunchy through the ferment rather than going hollow, which is what a cold salting alone tends to produce.