Vegan Kimchi
Serves
4
·
30
mins
·
Intermediary
Ingredients
- 1191g pak choi
- 390g sprouts
- 274g sprout tops
- 412g turnips
- 142g chard stems
- Salt (see recipe for quantities)
- 1 garlic bulb
- 2 red chillies
- 55g ginger
- 4 tablespoons gochujang
This recipe is designed to help you use up leftover leafy greens. You can scale the recipe up and down, the key is to always add salt to a ratio of 1.5-2% of the total weight of the veg. You can increase or reduce the amount of chillies to suit your tastes - this recipe is all about experimenting to create some delicious funky flavours! It’s important you make sure you sterilise your fermentation container, use clean equipment and wash your hands while making this recipe. This stops any unwanted microbes from disrupting the work of the friendly lactobacillus bacteria responsible for fermentation.
Method
- Prepare all the veg as necessary. For the pak choi, cut the root off and break into large stems. Cut the sprouts in half. Break the sprout tops into individual leaves. Slice the turnips as thinly as you can, ideally using a mandolin. Chop the chard stems into 1 inch chunks.
- Weigh all veg and add to a large bowl. Sprinkle over 1.5% of the weight of the veg in salt and massage into the vegetables. (To calculate the amount of salt needed first weigh the prepared vegetables and then multiply this by 0.015, e.g. for 2000g of prepared veg you’ll need 30g of salt.)
- Next, break up the garlic bulb and break the cloves. If you can, leave it for 30 minutes to allow the garlic to produce allicin, a natural defence chemical that’s very good for you. Blend the garlic together with the chillies, ginger and gochujang in a food processor. If it’s too thick and not blending, add a splash of filtered or distilled water (don’t use tap water as the small amount of chlorine in it may inhibit the fermentation process).
- When your aromatic paste is smooth, weigh it and add 1.5% of its weight in salt.
- Check the veg. The salt should be drawing out the water from the vegetables. Scrunch the veg up to help release the water and mix in the salted garlic, ginger and chilli paste.
- When the veg and spice paste have released enough liquid that they can be fully submerged it’s ready to store and ferment. Decant the mixture into a large sterilised vessel (like a 1-2l Kilner jar, or use smaller jars if you don’t have a large one) and push the veg down until it’s fully submerged. You can keep the veg submerged by placing a cabbage leaf (or another robust leaf) on top and weigh this down with a glass fermentation weight or a ziplock bag filled with water. The veg needs to be submerged throughout the fermentation process in order to create an oxygen-free environment to ensure the healthy bacteria can be produced for lacto-fermentation to take place.
- Now leave your kimchi to ferment, start off at room temperature (the warmer the room the faster it will ferment, so keep an eye on it!). Within 1-2 days you should start to see small bubbles appear, this means ferementation’s starting. If you’ve used an air-tight container, you may need to ‘burp’ the container once a day to allow any built up gas to be expelled, this just involves slightly releasing the seal on the lid. After 3 days, taste the kimchi and see what you think. If you want a more fermented taste you can leave it at room temperature for longer, just test it each day until you’re happy with the flavour.
- Once the kimchi’s acquired the fermented flavour you like, move it to the fridge to slow fermentation and begin enjoying it as a condiment on almost anything! You can decant it into smaller jars for ease of use and it will keep in the fridge for months, continuing to slowly ferment, as long as you maintain anaerobic conditions.
Share
Last updated:
22
May
2024
Ingredients
- 1191g pak choi
- 390g sprouts
- 274g sprout tops
- 412g turnips
- 142g chard stems
- Salt (see recipe for quantities)
- 1 garlic bulb
- 2 red chillies
- 55g ginger
- 4 tablespoons gochujang
This recipe is designed to help you use up leftover leafy greens. You can scale the recipe up and down, the key is to always add salt to a ratio of 1.5-2% of the total weight of the veg. You can increase or reduce the amount of chillies to suit your tastes - this recipe is all about experimenting to create some delicious funky flavours! It’s important you make sure you sterilise your fermentation container, use clean equipment and wash your hands while making this recipe. This stops any unwanted microbes from disrupting the work of the friendly lactobacillus bacteria responsible for fermentation.
Method
- Prepare all the veg as necessary. For the pak choi, cut the root off and break into large stems. Cut the sprouts in half. Break the sprout tops into individual leaves. Slice the turnips as thinly as you can, ideally using a mandolin. Chop the chard stems into 1 inch chunks.
- Weigh all veg and add to a large bowl. Sprinkle over 1.5% of the weight of the veg in salt and massage into the vegetables. (To calculate the amount of salt needed first weigh the prepared vegetables and then multiply this by 0.015, e.g. for 2000g of prepared veg you’ll need 30g of salt.)
- Next, break up the garlic bulb and break the cloves. If you can, leave it for 30 minutes to allow the garlic to produce allicin, a natural defence chemical that’s very good for you. Blend the garlic together with the chillies, ginger and gochujang in a food processor. If it’s too thick and not blending, add a splash of filtered or distilled water (don’t use tap water as the small amount of chlorine in it may inhibit the fermentation process).
- When your aromatic paste is smooth, weigh it and add 1.5% of its weight in salt.
- Check the veg. The salt should be drawing out the water from the vegetables. Scrunch the veg up to help release the water and mix in the salted garlic, ginger and chilli paste.
- When the veg and spice paste have released enough liquid that they can be fully submerged it’s ready to store and ferment. Decant the mixture into a large sterilised vessel (like a 1-2l Kilner jar, or use smaller jars if you don’t have a large one) and push the veg down until it’s fully submerged. You can keep the veg submerged by placing a cabbage leaf (or another robust leaf) on top and weigh this down with a glass fermentation weight or a ziplock bag filled with water. The veg needs to be submerged throughout the fermentation process in order to create an oxygen-free environment to ensure the healthy bacteria can be produced for lacto-fermentation to take place.
- Now leave your kimchi to ferment, start off at room temperature (the warmer the room the faster it will ferment, so keep an eye on it!). Within 1-2 days you should start to see small bubbles appear, this means ferementation’s starting. If you’ve used an air-tight container, you may need to ‘burp’ the container once a day to allow any built up gas to be expelled, this just involves slightly releasing the seal on the lid. After 3 days, taste the kimchi and see what you think. If you want a more fermented taste you can leave it at room temperature for longer, just test it each day until you’re happy with the flavour.
- Once the kimchi’s acquired the fermented flavour you like, move it to the fridge to slow fermentation and begin enjoying it as a condiment on almost anything! You can decant it into smaller jars for ease of use and it will keep in the fridge for months, continuing to slowly ferment, as long as you maintain anaerobic conditions.
Share
Last updated:
22
May
2024
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