Fermenting is very much in the culinary spotlight at the moment and one of the most popular fermented dishes is Korean Kimchi. Traditionally Kimchi is a side dish made from fermented vegetables and is incredibly healthy (not to mention tasty!) – it has many different varieties and can be as spicy as you like.
Chef loves making spicy Kimchi and often uses it in the restaurant - now he has agreed to give us his ultimate Kimchi recipe!
(This recipe contains seafood products but can be adapted to be vegetarian by simply substituting the shrimp & fish sauce)
Kimchi (Fermenting time is 2-3 days)
Ingredients
You'll need a sterilised 2 litre glass jar
1.5kg Chinese cabbage ( wombok), cut into 4 cm squares
800g Continental cucumbers, sliced thinly
400g Medium carrots, sliced thinly
250g Daikon, sliced thinly
60g Salt
300ml Water
20g Glutinous rice flour
15g Garlic, peeled
60g Brown onion, peeled
50g Ginger peeled
100g Nashi pear, peeled
30g Korean chilli powder or flakes (gochugaru)
120ml Fish sauce
40g Korean salted shrimp (saewoo gert)
50ml Sesame oil
40g Black sesame seeds
2 Spring onions, sliced thinly
Method
Mix the salt with the vegetables in a large bowl and let stand for 2- 3 hours, or until the vegetables are wilted. Wash the vegetables and drain well. Set aside.
Place 300ml of water and rice flour in a small pot and bring the paste to a boil, stirring continuously. This should take about 1 minute. Place the rice paste into a bowl and let it cool.
Mix the chilli powder with the rice paste and set aside. Blend the garlic, ginger, onion, nashi pear, fish sauce and salted shrimp in a blender.
Mix all the ingredients with the vegetables in a large bowl, adding the spring onions and sesame seeds towards the end.
Pack the kimchi into a clean glass jar and let it ferment for 2-3 days at room temperature. Place the kimchi in the fridge until it’s fermented to your liking.
Tips
You can make the kimchi as spicy as you like by adding more chilli powder or flakes.
You can also use different vegetables like beans, asparagus and so on.
To make a vegan kimchi add tamari or light soy sauce instead the fermented shrimp and fish sauce.
The longer you ferment kimchi, the more intense and sour its flavour will be.
