pdilley
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The first non-beer brewing but non-beverage as well. That and I promised Screwtop I'd post it back before I left on holidays.
Kim Chi is a fermented cabbage dish from Korea. It has about four main flavours, cabbage, onion, garlic, and chili.
Standard Kim Chi has quite a bit of chili in it which is normal tasting to Koreans or anyone who enjoys spicy food such as myself but a milk skinned person from England might think its about the most insane heat in the entire universe. If you have had spicy Asian or Indian food and enjoy it then you can easily take the chili in Kim Chi as it is no where near as hot as some of the Indian food I've ordered up
Fermenting the cabbage breaks it down into one of the worlds healthiest foods. The anti-cancer properties of cabbage are created during fermentation and are missing or minimal in raw cabbage or cooked cabbage. It is full of healthy bacteria, primarily lactobacilli which aids your digestion (you may get a rumble on first eating if your digestive system isn't in a good state as it wakes up and kicks into gear -- mine did but stopped after a minute and never has since then) and although not a big issue for me is said to help prevent yeast infections. High in Vitamins A, B, and C. Its all good stuff. You can eat a lot, you can eat a little, its your choice, when you get low just keep making more!
You will need 2 cabbages. They will have any name like Korean Cabbage, Chinese Cabbage, or Napa Cabbage depending on where you live.
You will also need:
Spring Onions, about 6 to 10 depending on your onion taste preference
Sea Salt (or regular salt if too difficult to find)
Korean Chili Powder (or similar red flakes of crushed red chilis)
Garlic cloves (2 or 3 depending on taste)
Sugar
Small piece of ginger
Optional are onion, seafoods like oysters are popular, and other vegetables, Koreans also have a radish they dice up into cubes and give the same treatment to.
The idea is to use the salt to draw moisture out of the cabbage, this helps the cabbage stay crisp and crunchy, if you don't use salt you end up with limp and soggy cabbage so salt is your friend.
Rinse the cabbage clean and if necessary cut of the tops so you can unfold each leaf. Just like washing your underarms lift each leaf in the cabbage and salt all the sides.
Let the cabbages sit for two hours if you are in a rush or five hours or so if you have time or wish to go do something else and come back later. They are going to draw out juice so you may want to keep them in a plastic vegetable tub which is good to retain the juices that come out and put back in the Kim Chi mixture.
If you have a very large plastic mixing bowl you can use that during the next step otherwise use that big plastic tub.
Bring out your rubber kitchen gloves you bought just for the purpose of mixing Kim Chi. It helps keep the onion and garlic smell off your hands and it will be critical when you start sloshing around Chili powder and mix it into the cabbage. Nothing says "hello!" like Chili in a rubbed eye
Now it is time to chop the cabbage into bite size pieces. Quarter the cabbages top to bottom. Then cut the little hard stem cores off each quarter. Now simply chop the cabbage quarters into square. Something nice and bite sized. If you need a number try 5 centimeters square for a good start.
Toss the cabbage into the plastic bowl or big veggie tub.
Now cut up your spring onions. Again bite sized, if you need a number again about 5 centimeters long. And yes, all those green bits too not just the white bottom part.
Toss the spring onions into the cabbage and mix around with your gloved hands.
Put the skinned garlic cloves into a garlic press and press it into a mince. Scrape it off and into the plastic bowl or tub and mix in with your hands. Now is a good time to grate the ginger and add it if you have not done so already. Again to taste but a good starting point is about 5 grams.
If you are adding option onion do so now after chopping it up into fine squares.
Add in a small amount of sugar, a couple tablespoons should suffice.
Now comes the Chili. We are aiming for about 20 grams of the stuff which is about four heaping tablespoons of it. To me Korean Kim Chi Chili powder flakes seem hot but not super hot so if substituting go for your taste and what you like but don't try to burn down the neighbours house with the hottest stuff you can find.
Put those rubber gloves to good use and mix it all up. You can squeeze the cabbage leaves in your hands while mixing if you wish to help extract good briney juices from them.
Place the mixed Kim Chi into glass jars or if you only have plastic into plastic containers with lids.
Do not put it into the refrigerator yet, we need it to culture. Let it sit outside of the refrigerator for three to four days. If it is summer then it will start fermenting faster if it is winter it will take longer to start fermenting.
You can also leave it out as long as you like to get as sour as you like according to your taste but three to four days should suffice. Unlike sour kraut, Kim Chi is just starting to ferment to add a new flavour dimension but not fully ferment out.
As you can see there is no hard or fast rule. I have seen people cooking a paste of rice flour and water in equal ratios in a small sauce pan and then mixing the chili flakes into that. This paste is then slathered by hand on both sides of the cabbage leaves after salting and before chopping into quarters. There is no hard and fast order to it. If you do go the past know that the extra starches usually help the fermentation happen quicker so you might need to adjust your time leaving the cabbage in jars down by a day or so depending on how hot it is in your house.
I have not done it but adding salty fish or oysters or scallops is also popular to some. This standard Kim Chi though everyone will know.
Yum! Large Bushells coffee jar of yester-year comes in handy, mine is now almost empty
Time to make more!
Kim Chi is a fermented cabbage dish from Korea. It has about four main flavours, cabbage, onion, garlic, and chili.
Standard Kim Chi has quite a bit of chili in it which is normal tasting to Koreans or anyone who enjoys spicy food such as myself but a milk skinned person from England might think its about the most insane heat in the entire universe. If you have had spicy Asian or Indian food and enjoy it then you can easily take the chili in Kim Chi as it is no where near as hot as some of the Indian food I've ordered up
Fermenting the cabbage breaks it down into one of the worlds healthiest foods. The anti-cancer properties of cabbage are created during fermentation and are missing or minimal in raw cabbage or cooked cabbage. It is full of healthy bacteria, primarily lactobacilli which aids your digestion (you may get a rumble on first eating if your digestive system isn't in a good state as it wakes up and kicks into gear -- mine did but stopped after a minute and never has since then) and although not a big issue for me is said to help prevent yeast infections. High in Vitamins A, B, and C. Its all good stuff. You can eat a lot, you can eat a little, its your choice, when you get low just keep making more!
You will need 2 cabbages. They will have any name like Korean Cabbage, Chinese Cabbage, or Napa Cabbage depending on where you live.
You will also need:
Spring Onions, about 6 to 10 depending on your onion taste preference
Sea Salt (or regular salt if too difficult to find)
Korean Chili Powder (or similar red flakes of crushed red chilis)
Garlic cloves (2 or 3 depending on taste)
Sugar
Small piece of ginger
Optional are onion, seafoods like oysters are popular, and other vegetables, Koreans also have a radish they dice up into cubes and give the same treatment to.
The idea is to use the salt to draw moisture out of the cabbage, this helps the cabbage stay crisp and crunchy, if you don't use salt you end up with limp and soggy cabbage so salt is your friend.
Rinse the cabbage clean and if necessary cut of the tops so you can unfold each leaf. Just like washing your underarms lift each leaf in the cabbage and salt all the sides.
Let the cabbages sit for two hours if you are in a rush or five hours or so if you have time or wish to go do something else and come back later. They are going to draw out juice so you may want to keep them in a plastic vegetable tub which is good to retain the juices that come out and put back in the Kim Chi mixture.
If you have a very large plastic mixing bowl you can use that during the next step otherwise use that big plastic tub.
Bring out your rubber kitchen gloves you bought just for the purpose of mixing Kim Chi. It helps keep the onion and garlic smell off your hands and it will be critical when you start sloshing around Chili powder and mix it into the cabbage. Nothing says "hello!" like Chili in a rubbed eye
Now it is time to chop the cabbage into bite size pieces. Quarter the cabbages top to bottom. Then cut the little hard stem cores off each quarter. Now simply chop the cabbage quarters into square. Something nice and bite sized. If you need a number try 5 centimeters square for a good start.
Toss the cabbage into the plastic bowl or big veggie tub.
Now cut up your spring onions. Again bite sized, if you need a number again about 5 centimeters long. And yes, all those green bits too not just the white bottom part.
Toss the spring onions into the cabbage and mix around with your gloved hands.
Put the skinned garlic cloves into a garlic press and press it into a mince. Scrape it off and into the plastic bowl or tub and mix in with your hands. Now is a good time to grate the ginger and add it if you have not done so already. Again to taste but a good starting point is about 5 grams.
If you are adding option onion do so now after chopping it up into fine squares.
Add in a small amount of sugar, a couple tablespoons should suffice.
Now comes the Chili. We are aiming for about 20 grams of the stuff which is about four heaping tablespoons of it. To me Korean Kim Chi Chili powder flakes seem hot but not super hot so if substituting go for your taste and what you like but don't try to burn down the neighbours house with the hottest stuff you can find.
Put those rubber gloves to good use and mix it all up. You can squeeze the cabbage leaves in your hands while mixing if you wish to help extract good briney juices from them.
Place the mixed Kim Chi into glass jars or if you only have plastic into plastic containers with lids.
Do not put it into the refrigerator yet, we need it to culture. Let it sit outside of the refrigerator for three to four days. If it is summer then it will start fermenting faster if it is winter it will take longer to start fermenting.
You can also leave it out as long as you like to get as sour as you like according to your taste but three to four days should suffice. Unlike sour kraut, Kim Chi is just starting to ferment to add a new flavour dimension but not fully ferment out.
As you can see there is no hard or fast rule. I have seen people cooking a paste of rice flour and water in equal ratios in a small sauce pan and then mixing the chili flakes into that. This paste is then slathered by hand on both sides of the cabbage leaves after salting and before chopping into quarters. There is no hard and fast order to it. If you do go the past know that the extra starches usually help the fermentation happen quicker so you might need to adjust your time leaving the cabbage in jars down by a day or so depending on how hot it is in your house.
I have not done it but adding salty fish or oysters or scallops is also popular to some. This standard Kim Chi though everyone will know.
Yum! Large Bushells coffee jar of yester-year comes in handy, mine is now almost empty
Time to make more!
