I’m very new to the world of fermentation, especially when
it comes to foods. I didn’t grow up
eating sauerkraut and still find it a bit odd.
However, the first time I had kimchi I knew I’d have to learn how to
make it (because I’m kind of cheap, but mostly because I love learning how to
make new things!). So I took two recipes
and made my own version using as many local ingredients as I good. The result is KWimchi, or KW-Chi, or a Kimchi
for KW.
Trying to emphasize the ingredients we have available from
local farms this kimchi is a bit more of what Sandor Katz
would call a Kraut-Chi. Regardless of what you call it, it is
delicious enough to eat by itself (which I’ve been doing lately!).
You need most of the following to make it turn out:
·
1 cabbage (napa is the traditional, but I’ve
just been using standard cabbage), coarsely chopped
·
3-6 carrots (depends on their size and how much
carrot you want), chopped into thin sticks
·
1-3 daikon radishes (same as carrots, it’s your
choice how much), chopped into thin sticks
·
2-4 green onions (optional, use them if they’re
seasonally available)
·
¼ cup salt
For the paste:
·
Buy a kimchi chili paste from New City
Supermarket in Kitchener (that’s what I did for my first batch)
*Or*
·
50g fresh ginger (a decent sized chunk)
·
3-6 cloves garlic
·
1 tbs. fish sauce
·
1 tbs. honey
·
25-100g chili peppers (you’re going to have to
experiment to find your desired heat level, and it also depends on your
peppers)
Chop up the cabbage and sprinkle with most of the salt,
saving a bit. Massage the salt into the
chopped cabbage, then cover with water.
If need be place something heavy on top of the cabbage to keep it
submerged. Leave it in the salt water
for at least 30 minutes and as long as 2 hours.
Rinse it under cold water and drain all the water.
Make the paste by pureeing the ginger, garlic, fish sauce,
honey, and chili peppers. Add the
remaining salt.
Squeeze any remaining water from the cabbage then mix it
together with the carrots, radish, and optional green onion in a large
bowl. Wearing rubber gloves work the
ginger chili paste into the vegetables until all are coated.
You could eat it now and it would be like a super spicy
coleslaw, and you might as well taste it at this point, but press on (pun
intended) to the next step. Pack the
kimchi into a large jar or crock, pressing down with your gloved hands or some
sort of food masher, until brine begins to rise from the vegetables. This takes a while, and if you absolutely
can’t get enough liquid from pressing you can add salt water to top up your
kimchi.
In order to ferment properly, the vegetables must be
submerged below the liquid. Place a
weight of some sort on top of the vegetables to keep them submerged, some people
use a smaller jar filled with water, others use a clean stone. I ferment in a large crock and use a ceramic
coffee container to weigh down the veggies.
Cover the jar (loose enough to allow gas to escape) and let it ferment
for about a week. Experiment with length
of ferment by tasting it as it progresses.
When it tastes good (to you or your friend) put it in the fridge to slow
fermentation. If you don’t eat it you
might keep it for several months. Mine
lasted one week because we ate it that quickly!
Adapted from these two recipes:
Nourished Kitchen's Hot, Salty
& Sour: My Kimchi Recipe
From Jon Spee, who shares more of his KW Locavore adventures
at localkitchener.ca
