Easy Fermented Kimchi

If there is one fermented food we love it's Kimchi. Well, at least this version of Kimchi. It's not too spicy with just the right amount of ginger and garlic. We put it on every type of soup or salad and eat it as a side dish with meat. The recipe is fairly easy and you can get the ingredients at your every day grocery store. Organic produce is always better for fermenting, but not completely necessary. Enjoy fermenting in your kitchen!


Fermented Kimchi  
(makes two quarts)

1 head of cabbage, cored and shredded
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
1 cup carrots, grated
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 tsp dried chili flakes
2 tablespoons of sea salt

Place all ingredients into a bowl or container and wait ten minutes for the salt to draw out the water from the veggies. Then pound the mixture until juicy (this may take 10 minutes and some elbow grease!) Next put the mixture into two quart sized jars and press firmly down until all of the juice comes to the top covering the vegetables. At this point I put a plastic yogurt lid (any lid will do if it fits inside your jar) on top of the veggies to keep them down, this helps to keep the kimchi from molding while it ferments. I then add a weight of a smaller jar filled with water to keep the veggies submerged in the brine.

Then let the kimchi sit for up to two weeks. Depending on how warm your kitchen is the kimchi may be ready anywhere from three days to two weeks. Taste it every other day until you get the desired taste (tangy and sour) and then put it in your fridge. It will last a few months or more!

Enjoy!

If you want a more detailed (and certainly more professional) version of another recipe go here. She did a WAY better job explaining everything. :)

Linking up at Real Food Wednesday and  Pennywise Platter

"Indeed I am the gardener, for all that exists come from me. With power and strength beyond imagining I govern the whole world: Not a thing is made or kept in order without me. I am the gardener, then who planted the vine of my only-begotten Son in the earth of your humanity so that you, the branches, could be joined to the vine and bear fruit." 

- God the Father to St. Catherine of Sienna (The Dialogue)  

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