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Cabbage kimchi (adapted version)

Korea's national dish and a fermentation that has gone global. The spicy, the sour, the umami meet in a jar, and what Korea eats every day, your garden can produce too.

Kimchi is arguably the most complex and living fermentation in the world. Far from the simple cabbage-salt of sauerkraut, it combines several vegetables, powerful aromatics (garlic, ginger, chilli) and a paste that ensures a fast, deep fermentation. This version is adapted to a temperate garden: without fermented fish, accessible, and using the plants of the catalogue. It keeps for several months and opens like a spiced chest in the depths of winter.

Ingredients

Equipment

  • •1 large glass or stoneware bowl
  • •1 glass jar with a mechanical seal of 1.5 L
  • •1 pair of kitchen gloves (the chilli marks the hands)
  • •1 small pan for the flour paste

Steps

  1. 1

    Salt the cabbage (key step, the night before)

    Cut the cabbage in half lengthwise then into 3-4 cm strips. Put it in a large bowl, sprinkle generously with the salt, mixing by hand. Add 2 cups of water and throw another handful of salt on the surface. Leave to marinate overnight (8-12 h). The cabbage will lose its water and soften.

    8 to 12 h

  2. 2

    Rinse the cabbage

    The next morning, rinse the cabbage very carefully in cold water 3 times to remove the excess salt. Press it hard with your hands to expel the water. The cabbage should be tender but still crunchy, salty but not inedible.

    15 min

  3. 3

    Prepare the paste (the magic trick)

    In a small pan, dilute the flour in 400 ml of cold water, stirring to avoid lumps. Heat over low heat, stirring constantly, until you get a translucent porridge (3-5 min). Let it cool completely (otherwise you kill the ferments). This paste is the food of the fermentation: it speeds and softens the start.

    10 min + 30 min cooling

  4. 4

    Prepare the aromatics

    Put on gloves. Finely grate the garlic and ginger (on a microplane if you have one). Finely slice the spring onion. Chop the fresh chilli without the seeds (unless you like it very hot). Grate the radish and the carrot into fine sticks.

    15 min

  5. 5

    Assemble the spiced paste

    In the bowl, mix the cold flour paste with the garlic, ginger, chilli and a tiny bit of salt (1 tsp). You get a fragrant orange-red paste. Add the rinsed cabbage, the radish, the spring onion and the carrot. Mix at length with gloved hands to coat every piece well with the spiced paste.

    10 min

  6. 6

    Put into the jar

    Pack the mixture firmly into the jar, layer by layer, pressing with your fist to expel the air. The red liquid should rise and cover the vegetables. Leave 3 cm of space at the top (fermentation produces a lot of gas). Close.

    10 min

  7. 7

    Ferment

    Leave at room temperature for 2 to 5 days, on a plate (juice will overflow). Taste each day from the 2nd: when the kimchi is sour-spicy the way you like it, transfer to the fridge. The fermentation continues very slowly in the cold.

    2 to 5 days

Storage

3 to 6 months in the fridge. The more time passes, the more sour and complex it becomes (that's when Koreans prefer to use it in simmered dishes, but we stop at the raw version here).

How to use it

2 to 3 tablespoons as a side to a meal, as a condiment, in a salad, on toast, in a bowl of warm rice. Introduce gradually if you're not used to it: the spice and acidity strongly wake up the palate.

Health properties

  • Living lactic ferments
  • Antioxidants of the aromatics (allicin of garlic, gingerols of ginger, capsaicin of chilli)
  • Capsaicin: a thermogenic effect documented at high doses, the effect of an ordinary portion of kimchi stays moderate
  • Vitamin C increased by the fermentation
  • Traditionally taken as a support during the cold season (garlic + ginger + chilli)

These preparations belong to cooking and herbal tradition: they nourish and support, do not “cure” anything and replace no treatment. Ask a doctor or pharmacist before prolonged use, if under treatment, pregnant or breastfeeding, or for a child. Follow the stated storage precautions strictly.

Precautions

Strong heat: to avoid in case of an active gastric ulcer, severe reflux or a haemorrhoid flare-up. People intolerant to histamine: to avoid (mature kimchi = high histamine). People with high blood pressure: count the salt added. Do not make it if in serious doubt about the freshness of the vegetables (badly made kimchi can develop pink or black mould, then discard without hesitation). The chilli marks the hands and clothes for hours.

Sources & tradition

  • · Korean tradition (김치), peasant recipes passed down for centuries
  • · Sandor Katz, The Art of Fermentation (2012)
  • · Lauryn Chun, The Kimchi Cookbook (2012)
  • · Version adapted from L'autosuffisance, c'est possible ! (Cherche-Midi)

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