KIMCHI
Ingredients
Kimchi
- 1 wombok (chinese cabbage)
- 2-3 tablespoons salt
- ½ cup spring onions, sliced
- ½ cup daikon, thinly sliced
- ½ cup carrot, julienned or grated
- a handful of kale or rocket, leaves only, optional
- 1 sliced apple, optional
Gochujang (kimchi sauce)
- 10-20 garlic cloves, peeled
- 250 grams fresh ginger, roughly chopped, no need to peel
- ½ cup gochugaru (Korean chilli powder)
- ¼ cup good fish sauce (see Tips)
- ¼ cup raw sugar (see Tips)
- ¼ cup tamari or light soy sauce
Kimchi
Remove outer leaves of wombok if damaged or discoloured. Wash and then slice lengthways into quarters then chop these lengths into bite-sized pieces. Place your sliced wombok into a large bowl or colander, sprinkle with salt and mix well. Let it sit for a few hours over the sink or overnight. A lot of liquid will seep out so if using colander put it over a large bowl or the sink.
While the wombok is draining, make the paste.
Gochujang (kimchi paste)
Place ginger, garlic, chilli and sugar (if using, see Tips) into the Thermomix mixing bowl and chop 10 sec/speed 10. Or pop it into a foodprocessor on high speed until finely chopped.
Add tamari and fish sauce Chop for a further 5 sec/speed 10. If desired, scrape down and chop for a further 5 sec/speed 10. Or in a food processor on medium speed until well combined.
Assembly
Drain the cabbage, add the other vegetables and mix your paste through the vegetables well. It’s a good idea to use gloves at this stage and mix the paste all throughout the vegetables.
Push the vegetables into clean sterilised jars, using a spoon or a tamper. You should have enough juice to cover all of the vegetables but you can also weigh them down to keep them under the juice. Make sure you leave ‘head room’ or it will bubble over as it ferments.
Leave this on your bench for a few days and it should start to come alive.
Pop it in the fridge after 5 days or 3 hot days. Leave it longer if it’s cool in your house or you like a more mature flavour. You could even put the jars in the fridge to ferment from day one – just leave it in there to ferment for about 3 weeks. If you fridge ferment then you can add less salt.
Tips
- Add a touch more salt in hot weather.
- Add as much chilli as you desire, even doubling the amount if you like it hot.
- Make a double portion of the paste if you can be bothered because this is great to either freeze or jar in the fridge for next time, or to add to cucumber pickles, a marinade, dressing or mayonnaise.
- Fish sauce: make sure it’s REAL by checking the ingredients. There should be only fish (eg. anchovies) and salt.
- Sugar: it’s fine to omit this and replace with 1-2 sliced apples.
