As presented at Planting Up event: Incredible Edibles! on Sat 27 October 2018.
Kimchi originates from Korea, and roughly means “pickle.” There are hundreds of ways to make it, offering an unlimited canvas on which to paint different flavors. Use any crunchy fresh vegetable. Tweak the flavours in the paste by varying the amount of ginger, garlic, fish sauce, and red peppers (or by adding any other ingredients) to customise the taste exactly to your liking.
This recipe and image has been adapted from fermentersclub.com and “Fermented Green Tomatoes” at: https://hiddenart.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/fermented-green-tomatoes/ by Abigail Stephenson.
Prep time: 2 hours 15 mins
Fermentation time: 4-5 days
Yield: just under 1qt
Kimchi Ingredients
- 1 bunch fresh mustard greens;I used 3 handfuls of chard pushed onto top of toms so no air gaps
- Filled 2/3 rds full with baby toms plus added larger green toms sliced to fit any holes
- 2 quarts/litres water
- 6 Tablespoons (90ml) fine sea salt
- 8 oz (by volume) “Make-ahead kimchi paste”, OR (remaining ingredients see below) used this
- 5 scallions (spring green onions)
- 1 Tbsp./15ml tamari (gluten free soy sauce)
- 2 Tbsp./30ml by volume /1 ounce by weight (15g) red pepper powder used marsala powder
- 1¾ ounces by weight (50g) ginger used 10g
- 5 ounces by weight (75g) garlic, peeled used 3-4 cloves
Instructions
Mix Brine & Soak Veg
- Dissolve 6 tablespoons sea salt into 2 quarts/litres of water.
- Rinse chard leaves or greens . Add leaves to brine and submerge using a plate or weight. Let them sit in brine 2 hours.
Make Paste
- Peel garlic and clean any dirt off ginger. Chop both roughly.
- Cut stems off scallions, and slice them (white and green parts) into ½ inch (1 cm) pieces.
- Add ginger, garlic, and scallions to work bowl of a food processor, along with red pepper powder and tamari.
- Start the food processor, and mix together until a thick paste forms and it “rolls” together when the machine is running. You may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice. You may also need a little extra tamari to get the right texture.
Pack and Ferment
- Drain greens, ( I used a salad spinner to get water free.)
- Cut greens into 1 to 2-inch pieces. Cut the larger leaves lengthwise as needed (down the spine) so the pieces are about 2-inches square. Use the stems as well as the leaves.
- While wearing gloves, coat the greens with paste.
- Pack into a wide-mouth quart-sized glass jar or crock.
- Add any residual paste to jar/crock.
- Cover with a plastic lid or plate, and weigh down so that the contents stay under the brine.
- If using smaller (quart) jars, find a weight such as a small glass jar (filled with water) that closely fits inside the diameter of the jar. Add to top of jar .
- Cover jar(s) with a tea cloth or muslin cloth and rubber band to keep flies out. Alternately, add airlock to top of jar.
- Ferment for 4-5 days. Transfer to refrigerator to slow ferment use within two months
