Following on from the previous post on the importance of gut health, we have included our very own kimchi recipe for making this probiotic-rich food at home.
You can really play around and substitute different ingredients and use up what you have in the cupboard- you can even add things like seaweed, fennel, jerusalem artichoke and beetroot!
Ingredients
1 cabbage (you can use any kind, but the typical one is napa or sweetheart)
1 daikon radish
2 carrots
2 onions (you can add spring onions or leeks as well)
3/4 cloves of garlic
3/4 hot red chillies (or you can use the typical korean chilli paste- Gochugaru)
3/4 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
Sea salt
Method
– Make a brine by mixing 4 tablespoons of salt per litre of filtered water- the brine should taste very salty.
– Chop the cabbage, radish and carrots (and any other veg you want to include).
– Soak the chopped veggies in the brine, for a few hours at least, and best overnight. Use a plate to make sure they’re all covered keep any veggies from submerging.
-Create a paste with the spices – onion, garlic, chilli, ginger (again adding any extras you may want eg turmeric, coriander or dill seeds). You can either blend this all together or use a pestle and mortar.
– Once the vegetables have soaked, remove from the brine keeping the brine handy as you may need it later on.
– Taste the veggies, they should taste salty but not unpleasantly salty. If they are too salty you can rinse them, or if you can’t taste any salt then add a couple of teaspoons and mix well.
-Mix the veggies with the spice paste, making sure they are all coated.
– Stuff everything in a sterilised glass jar making sure to compress the veg so it is all submerged. You can put a plate on top to help, or use a bag filled with water.
– Leave to ferment in a warm place for three days or longer- this part is up to your taste buds. Once it is to your taste take out and put in the fridge where it will continue to ferment slowly.
– Enjoy!
You can add a little with your meals every day and this will really help support that good bacteria in your gut! YUM!