Kimchi

When I wasn't feeling too hot in January one of the things I did was to go a little bit hobbity and decide to cook all our meals from scratch. And 'from scratch' I mean getting the vegetables from the allotment before I even started cooking. Don't ask me why, but sometimes doing small things with great involvement makes me feel a whole lot better.

Thus commenced a week of stews and Asian-style noodle soups. But the thing I find with growing my own veggies is that I'm unwilling to throw ANYTHING away if I can possibly help it. So, having stripped the kale and chard from its stems I was left with a heap of greenery I had grown from teeny tiny seeds, which I didn't want to just chuck on the compost heap.

Now, I've made kimchi once or twice before, but that was the result of going-out-and-buying-everything-I-needed-beforehand. You know, good quality veg – not tough, stalky leftovers. But, as I discovered from those first kimchi experiments, the process of fermenting softens the veg somewhat and I thought I'd give it a go. 

So, I dug out my copy of Sandor Ellix Katz's Wild Fermentation and found me a kimchi recipe. Of course, I'm incapable of following instructions unless I'm in the lab (perhaps because I'm not in the lab) so I adapted the basic principles to the resources I had to hand.

The process goes thus: 

1. Soak veg in salty water over night.

2. Drain and dry veg (but hang onto salty water).

3. Make up a mound of chopped onions, chilli, garlic and ginger in a bowl. Add a glug of fish sauce. Add soy sauce - or tamari if, like me, you're wheat intolerant.
 

4. Add pre-salted veg to bowl. Stir.

5. Pack everything into a container (I use an old Innocent veg pot) ensuring no air bubbles. Top up with salty water if necessary.

You then have to wait about a week, poking it down from time to time to get rid of any new air bubbles and to mix in any water that comes out of the veg.

I am always amazed that it tastes so good. How on earth can kale stalks, salt, spices and time taste so buttery and delicious? But it does! Over the past few evenings I've been scouring Amazon for more kimchi books, and discovered a few in the 77p Kindle range (why are they all 77p?)

If you have any recipes please do share them below!

Bee x