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Have you ever made kimchi? I never thought I liked it until I tasted my sister in law’s homemade which was not real spicy.
So I finally decided in March of 2020 to make some. I had my sister in law’s recipe, but didn’t have everything on it. And I then I looked at a recipe in Traditionally Fermented Foods, but didn’t like all of that one, so I took the two and put things together with what I had, and made my own recipe, which I have shared below.
My first batch came out great and we devoured it. So I just made 3 more jars and am looking forward to eating this all summer.
Benefits of fermented foods
Do you know the benefits of eating your own fermented foods? The good bacteria in the vegetables ferment repopulates the good bacteria in your gut and the prebiotic ingredients like garlic and turnip and daikon radish also help to feed those good bacteria. And when you make your own you can make it as hot or mild as you like.
The tricky part sometimes in making fermented vegetables is keeping the veggies from rotting. The key thing I have found is to make sure the vegetables are completely covered with liquid the whole time they are fermenting. That means having something to keep them down under the brine. I use a plastic baggie with water in it. But you can use a rock or some fancy weighted too that you buy. The key thing is keeping that brine completely covering everything.
So give it a try and let me know how it comes out.
Fermented kimchi
Ingredients
- 1 large head savoy cabbage, chopped
- 1 medium daikon radish, minced
- 1 medium turnip, minced
- 12 green onions, finely chopped
- 6 large garlic cloves, minced
- 2 inch piece of ginger root, finely chopped
- 3-4 tbsp sea salt
- 1-2 tbsp sweet paprika
- 1-2 tbsp korean chili (if you don't have this you can use red pepper flakes)
- 1/4 cup fish sauce.
Instructions
- Chop cabbage into small pieces and put into large bowl
- Chop radish and turnip in the food processor to get small pieces and add to cabbage mix.
- Add chopped green onions, garlic cloves, and ginger root.
- Sprinkle salt, paprika, and Korean chili powder on top of vegetables.
- Pour fish sauce over the vegetables.
- Let sit to bring out juices in cabbage for about an hour. Or you can pound with a wooden hammer to speed that process.
- Take a 2 quart jar and pack the vegetable mixture into the jar until close to full.
- Fill with water to come across the top of vegetables.
- Cover with a clean cabbage leaf.
- Put some kind of weight into the jar - stone, plastic bag with water in it.
- Set in cool place (60-80 F ideally) to ferment. The amount of time will depend on the time of year. Check your vegetables every few days after the first 5 days to see if is a taste you like. When you are happy with the taste, then remove the plastic bag and put the jar into the fridge to enjoy.
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