Kimchee Recipe

I’ve been asked for my kimchee recipie a couple of times now, so I though I’d post it here. If you don’t know, Kimchee is a Korean fermented pickle, it’s really spicy, so if you like spice you’ll love it. It also is filled with all those probiotic things everyone is talking about, as well as being high in vitamin C and B vitamins. If you make it let me know how it turns out! I wish I had pictures, the next time I make it I’ll try and take a few.

My basic quick Kimchee

3lbs of Chinese cabbage cut into 1 inch strips, or 3lbs of standard cabbage, sliced thinly, about 1/8th of an inch

2 or 3 root vegetables, carrots, radishes, beets, turnips, gobo(burdock) root all work well sliced thinly

a few green onions or chives sliced the long way

1 inch of grated ginger root or 2 tsp of powdered ginger root

1-2 tablespoons of ground hot pepper, this varies to your taste

1 tablespoon of sugar

Chop all the vegetables except the green onions and put them in a large crock. I use my large slow cooker crock. Cover with brine using a ratio of 3 tablespoons to 6 cups of water. If one batch isn’t enough to cover it, just make another one to fill it up. Then I invert the lid of the slow cooker and push the veggies down so that the brine comes up and covers them. If you’re using something without a lid, you can use a place with a clean rock on top or a freezer bag filled with brine of the same ratio you poured into the vegetables. Let this sit for 8 – 24 hours, depending on when you can get back to it. That’s when you make the spice mixture combining the ginger and the chile powder along with another teaspoon of salt. Drain the vegetables, reserving the brine, and add the spice mixture and the green onions to the vegetables and mix well. Pack the whole thing tightly into a mason jar, crock, or food grade plastic bucket that has been throughly cleaned and sanitized. A potato masher works well to pack it in. Then cover with the reserved brine and once again weigh the kimchee down so that it doesn’t go above the brine. By keeping the vegetables under the water in the brine you create an environment that is conducive to the right kinds of bacteria. If the vegetables come up above the brine, they start to rot in the bad way and get mushy and dark. If you see that, just throw out the offending bits and wash off your weight. Put the weight back on and try and make sure that all the veg is covered. Put it in a cool place and wait a week or two, then serve! It goes great with Bi bim bop, a traditional Korean dish, or with anything you’d like to add a little spice to.