Cabbage & Carrot Kimchi (Baechu)

I mentioned that I had overlooked the seasonal nature of kimchi. I’ve been eating it for a few years – and making it – but had not picked up on the simultaneous ‘readiness’ of cabbage, red hot chillies, and (presumably – too lazy to check this now) ginger.. Recipe from Katz: Wild Fermentation

Ingredients: 

  • 2 big cabbages (about 3 kilos) 
  • 18 big carrots – 3 per lb
  • All the ginger I could find in the house – should be about 3T grated per lb
  • 8 guindilla chillies, some red, some green – Katz suggests 3-4 per lb, but my 21 month old daughter is a big kimchi eater so I needed to ease off
  • A whole mess o’ garlic – 3-4 cloves per lb would be Katz’s suggestion. I had run low so I am not sure even how much went in. I tried the ‘two bowl’ method of peeling the cloves, but did not work for once. 
  • 6 big onions

Method: 

The day before making the kimchi, brine the sliced cabbage in a big bowl overnight with the sliced carrots. I used a 1-4 mix of salt to water, and about 20 cups of water. That was too much. 

Day of, mix the ginger, garlic and chillies with the onion and then (once drained of the brine) into the cabbage. I did this directly in the jar I’ll be using for fermenting, which is a Schmitt 10 litre ‘Gartopf’. Let it stand for a day to see if there was enough brine (there was) before pouring the saved brine away, and then dated it, stuck it in the back of the pantry, and: to wait. 

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