Traditional Kimchi
Healthy, because
Even smarter
Koreans call kimchi their hot spicy herb, which they enjoy already in the morning for breakfast - and rightly so! Thus, the lactic acid bacteria from the fermented vegetables strengthen our intestinal flora, which in turn has a positive effect on our defences.
You can eat fresh Kimchi immediately as a salad. However, it tastes wonderfully mildly sour only after 3-4 days. For cooking it should be 1-2 weeks old and after 3-4 weeks you can also use it as seasoning.
Ingredients
- Ingredients
- 3 ½ lbs Napa cabbage
- 4 ozs salt
- 6 scallions
- 2 stalks Celery
- 2 carrots
- 1 Apple
- 6 cloves garlic cloves
- 1 inch ginger
- 3 Tbsps Fish sauce
- 3 Tbsps sugar
- 2 Tbsps Red pepper flakes (or Korean mild chili powder)
- 2 Tbsps Sesame seeds
Preparation steps
Rinse cabbage, trim, remove hard stalk and cut into large pieces. Place a layer in a large bowl, sprinkle with salt, continue adding layers of cabbage and salt until cabbage is all used and finish with salt. Cover and compress with a plate. Let rest for 4-5 days in a cool, dark place. Then rinse thoroughly and drain while reserving a little brine. Place cabbage in the bowl again.
Rinse scallions, trim and cut into rings. Rinse celery, trim and cut into 1-1/2 inch long pieces. Peel carrots and cut diagonally into slices. Cut apple into quarters, peel, remove core and cut quarters into thin slices.
Peel garlic and cut into pieces. Mix garlic in a bowl with peeled ginger and fish sauce, puree with an immersion blender forming a fine paste. Add sugar and red pepper flakes and mix. Add prepared vegetables and sesame seeds to the cabbage and mix. Add garlic mixture to the cabbage and stir. Place cabbage mixture in jars and cover with a little of the brine (a few tablespoons to each jar) and tightly closed. Store jars in a cool and dark place. Let rest at least overnight before serving.
