Kimchi
Yield: Approximately 4 – 500ml jars
Prep time: 30 mins plus brining time
Total time: 4 days to 3 weeks ferment time
Ingredients
Chinese Cabbage | 2
Salt | 70 grams
Leek | 1-2 sliced (11/2 cups)
Carrots 2 – matchsticks or grated
Daikon Radish 1 (med-large) matchsticks or grated
Dulse or seaweed flakes ¼ cup (can omit if it’s not your thang)
Gochujang/Kimchi paste – 1 cup
My friend Sharon Flynn makes the most amazing Kimchi paste and she’s letting me share the recipe here at Love Ferments and Food of course you can buy Gochujang sauce and use that but once you make this recipe for Kimchi paste, you’ll never look
back – I promise.
Directions
Give your Cabbages a really good wash and remove any outer leaves that are bruised or discoloured, chop the cabbage in half lengthways and then half lengthways again, then half again. Now chop these pieces into very chunky extra big bite size pieces, place these pieces into a large bowl and sprinkle with salt, mix this through thoroughly and leave to sit. A lot of Kimchi makers leave this to sit as is for anything from a few hours to a full 24 hours. I am never that patient with Kimchi making as I am always too eager to get in there and eat it. I generally leave my cabbage to sit for about three hours.
After 3 hours (or more) drain your cabbage, place it back into your large bowl and add all your other veggies, give it a good mix.
Now comes the time to roll your sleeves up and really get into it, add your kimchi paste and mix it thoroughly through the cabbage and veggies.
Massage away so that everything is well loved and coated in kimchi paste, give a few loving squeezes here and there to bring out the juices. Make sure you wash your hands straight after, you certainly don’t want to be touching your face (or anywhere) with those Korean Chilli covered fingers – ouch!Let’s get this happening –place the entire contents of the bowl into your crock, pushing down to ensure everything is covered in juice, you can either use your hands to push down or use a pounder. Leave a good amount of space/headroom.
If you are using jars, it’s the same process, cover in brine and lid. Make sure you leave plenty of space from the top of the jar, Kimchi is like a dance party in a jar, it’s a very active ferment and I would hate for you to waste of any of this goodness on an eruption.
Leave to ferment for a few days, it doesn’t take long for signs of life to appear, if you have airlock systems you might hear the bubbles and gurgles, if not, gently release air pressure when you need to, but only turn the lids slightly to release the carbon dioxide build up then tighten back up.
I ferment my Kimchi for 5 days and then refrigerate, it’s a taste thing though and whatever floats your boat, my recommendation is that 4 days is your shortest ferment time and 3 weeks, the longest.
Once you are happy with your on-bench ferment time, jar in sterilised jars and place into the fridge for up to 12 months
Special information:
Again, you don’t need any special equipment, good clean sterilised jars with lids will be fine but if you’re lucky enough to have a crock then that should be your weapon of choice for a fermentation vessel. If you are using jars then airlock system lids are wonderful but hey, if you’ve got none of that, it’s still going to be beautiful, just takes a little more effort (not much though). The most important factor in all of this is to ensure your veggies are always covered in brine. This should be easy to achieve through the load of juice that will be expelled by the veggies and kimchi paste but if not, use weights, use outer leaves of cabbages that have been folded over to make a big wedge before sealing, use a thick piece of carrot to push that wedge even further down before you lid. There are a few ways to do this and if you’re not sure please drop me a line, I am happy to help. The other thing to watch is the carbon dioxide build up if you’re not using an air release system.
