I went to a Kim Chi making workshop hosted by Environment House (Bayswater, Western Australia) last year and was delighted by the laid back, knowledgeable education I got from the volunteer facilitator, Miho. To make it even more enjoyable we got to take a jar home! I haven’t since gotten around to making it at home until yesterday. I can almost eat this by the jar!
It is so good for you - can reduce the risk of cancer, support the control of diabetes, promotes digestion, prevents constipation, protects against colds and flus, aids in weight management, helps control high cholesterol and generally promotes gut health! Of course like most things, the quality of your ingredients determines the quality of what you’re making so get organic local fresh produce to make this winner of a recipe.
I’ve photographed the recipe we were given at the workshop but this is the slight variation did that made it RAINBOW KIM CHI
Ingredients
- 1/4 a white cabbage
- 1/4 a purple cabbage
- Half a white cabbage
- 80g sea salt
- Enough water to cover this mix
- 10 spring onion
- 2-3TBS Korean chilli flakes
- 1 green apple
- 1 white or brown onion
- 4 large cloves of garlic
- 1 large piece of ginger (I used about 4 thumb sized pieces worth)
- 2 large carrots and/ or daikon radish
- 1 bunch pak choy
Method
1. quarter the cabbages lengthwise ways and slice.
2. Place cabbage, salt and water in a large bowl or other container, mix through a bit and then weigh the cabbage down so it’s immersed in the water under a clean plate (and possibly put a heavy jar on top to keep it down and leave for 1-2hrs in summer or 5-6hrs in winter.
3. Slice the spring onions and pak choy. Finely slice the onion. Grate the carrots and apple and finely grate the ginger. Finely grate, mince or crush the garlic and add these ingredients all together into a large bowl along with the chilli flakes.
Alternatively you could food process the onion, garlic, ginger, apple and chilli flakes together and then combine with the rest.
4. Drain the cabbage (though not until fully dry - we need a little bit of the salt/ cabbage water left as liquid) and add to the rest of the ingredients mixing well by hand. At the workshop Miho encouraged getting the whole family to have a go at mixing to contribute a good mix of bacteria! 😂 We all had a go at the workshop. - Obviously with clean hands!
5. Scoop into clean, sterilised jars and press the contents down firmly so they are all submerged in the juices. This crucial as it is how they ferment.
6. Leave jars in room temperature (20-22 degrees Celsius is ideal) for 6 hrs and then move to the fridge. You can eat immediately or leave for longer and eat as desired!
If you’re like me you’ll eat half of it in the first day! A fun tip Miho gave us was that if it’s starting to look a bit long in the tooth, use it to make a delicious Asian soup or stir fry.
Next time I’d probably try to include Chinese cabbage and the daikon radish too. And possibly add 4TBS of vegan ‘fish’ sauce.
Here’s the recipe we were given at the workshop:
Here’s some photos from the workshop Where we made it in bulk in huge buckets!
