Recipes
About the Recipe
Kimchi is simply fermented Chinese cabbage mixed with a chilli-based sauce and lots of vegetables. It’s a powerhouse of probiotics and prebiotics and is often considered a superfood!
I like to keep homemade kimchi in the fridge and add a little to each meal to boost my vegetable intake and nutrients. It may look complicated, but the process is actually simple and easy. Honestly, it tastes wayyy better than store-bought kimchi, and you can adjust the spiciness to your liking.
So please give it a try!
Ingredients
Chinese cabbage (Napa cabbage) - ¼ head
Coarse salt - 3% of the weight of the Chinese cabbage
1 tablespoon Glutinous rice flour (Rice flour or plain flour can be used as a substitute)
25 ml Water
⅓ Carrot - julienned
1 stalk Green onion chopped
Daikon radish - optional, julienned
Chilli paste
¼ Onion
¼ Apple
1 clove Garlic
1 small piece Ginger
1 tablespoon Fish sauce
1½ teaspoons Honey
1 tablespoon Gochugaru (Korean chilli powder) *
Directions
Remove the core from the Chinese cabbage and chop it into approximately 5 cm pieces. Weigh the chopped cabbage. Then toss the chopped cabbage with 3% of its weight in coarse salt, making sure it is evenly distributed. For example 3g of salt for 100g of cabbage.
Place a plate on top of the salted cabbage and then put something heavy (like a tin of beans) on the plate, to hold it down. Leave for 2–3 hours, until the cabbage releases plenty of water. Taste the thicker white part of the cabbage; if it tastes nicely salted, it’s ready. If not, add a pinch of salt to the bowl and leave it a little longer.
Once ready, rinse the salt from the cabbage thoroughly and drain well, allowing the excess water to drain naturally.
Add the glutinous rice flour and water to a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring continuously, until it thickens to a glue-like consistency. Set aside to cool.
Add all the chilli paste ingredients and the cooled rice flour mixture to a food processor. Pulse until smooth. If you don’t have a food processor, grate the ingredients and mix together in a bowl.
Combine the chilli paste with the julienned carrot, daikon radish and chopped green onion, then add the drained cabbage and mix well until evenly coated.
Transfer the kimchi to an airtight container and store in the fridge. Enjoy it fresh or leave it to ferment for up to one week for a more sour and tangy flavour.
Notes
*For the chilli, I recommend using gochugaru, Korean chilli flakes.
You can find organic gochugaru at Mindful Foods or Honest to Goodness.
