Kim Chi recipe

[featherstick]

I mentioned fermenting cabbages on a different post.

This is a very simple “Kim Chi” recipe that I have developed to fit with ingredients that are easily available to most people. I doubt any Korean would recognise it as Kim Chi, but it’s still a tasty, spicy, fermented cabbage dish that we like a lot, and it’s dead easy.

Ingredients:
1 head of white cabbage
750g/1kg bag of carrots, preferably organic
3 large onions
Juice of 2-3 lemons
Head of garlic
2 tablespoons dried chilli flakes, if liked (you can use more or less to taste)
Sea salt
Cider vinegar
Couple of inches of fresh ginger, peeled and chunked

Process:
Roughly chop the cabbage in about 1-inch squares.
Wash, peel and thinly slice the carrots – a mandolin is best for this but watch the fingertips!
Cut the onion into fat semi-circles
Put the chopped veg into a large container – I use a 25l food-grade bucket
“Wash” with a generous amount of cider vinegar – you want to make it all wet
Stir with a wooden spoon or similar
Drain
Sprinkle a good handful of salt over the veg and now carry on stirring. This step is important – the stirring and the salt will draw out liquid from the veg which will provide the basis of the lactic fermentation. You should be able to taste the salt but it shouldn’t taste over-salty, if you see what I mean
Leave overnight

The next day, or the day after, it doesn’t really matter, peel the garlic, add the garlic, lemon juice, chilli, ginger to a blender and blend to a paste.
Add the paste to the veg and stir vigorously again. Use a spoon for this as the garlic/juice/chilli aggregate will quickly find any cuts you have on your hands….
It’s now ready to eat as a fresh spicy salad, or you can leave it in the bucket (covered) in a cool place. I tend to jar it and keep it in the fridge, distributing the liquid at the bottom of the bucket between the jars. The above will fill 4 big pickle jars when squashed down.

You can play around with the proportions and add other ingredients such as apple, cucumber, fish sauce etc. but the above works really well for us.

There are many health claims made for lacto-fermented foods but we mainly eat this because it is tasty
Enjoy!

[Brambles]

Hmm, will have to give this a go. I make red sauerkraut as it's the only way we like to eat cabbage.

[jansman]

I love pickled foods. I am going to show my ignorance now. For both Kim Chi and sauerkraut- what do you eat it with? How do you combine it into meals? Thanks in advance.

[Brambles]

I love pickled foods. I am going to show my ignorance now. For both Kim Chi and sauerkraut- what do you eat it with? How do you combine it into meals? Thanks in advance.

The red sauerkraut I rinse and cook and use as you would any cabbage as well as eating just like pickled red cabbage. It makes the most blinding braised red cabbage with the addition of a spoonful of blackberry jelly and a spoonful of chutney.
Or there's always Bigos Oh lordy. Just bring a family or two and several loaves of bread!

http://www.hairybikers.com/recipes/bigos-stew/1890

I find this recipe the best. If you don't have apples use dried apricots or prunes. Also, I find this recipe really good for using up the bits and bobs of meat in the freezer. The best one had some sausages, pork belly, beef short rib, chicken thigh and that last bit of chorizo you never know what to do with!
Oh and always leave it ovenight, it's one of those stews that's miles better the next day!

[jansman]

That looks smashing! Thank you.

[featherstick]

I generally just put it on the table when a sort of spicy relish/salad is called for. SWMBO has a cold at the moment so I'm spooning it down her neck from the bucket. It's good too with left-over rice or grains.

[jansman]

Thanks. Just the sort of thing I was thinking of. I have tried sauerkraut and really liked it. However as it is not in my food culture, I just dont know how to use it.

[Brambles]

I grew up with a mad Polish WW2 Pilot as a neighbour. Boy could his wife cook, she made her own Sauerkraut too. The older generation viewed her cooking with suspicion, us kids knew a good thing when we saw or rather smelt it.

[featherstick]

I first came across sauerkraut when Dad worked as a delivery driver for a Polish wholesaler in the UK, must be more than 40 years ago now. He would occasionally bring home kabanos and Krakus pickles and sauerkraut (on a side note, when a Polish colleague rather self-importantly told me "you should try Polish food you know, you might like it" I was able to tell her I had been eating Polish food since before she was born! : )

I think sauerkraut goes well with any sort of pork as the fatty pork and acid cabbage complement each other. I've eaten it with fried pork chops, the kraut added at the last minute to warm through, served with mashed potato - delicious.

[jansman]

The butchers shop I used to manage had a Polish couple as tenants in the house at the back. They were young, but they were excellent gardeners. Kris grew cabbage , red and white, for all the aforementioned preserves. Also gherkins. All were great. He could also grow the heaviest crop of outdoor tomatoes I have ever seen.