homemade kimchi anyone?

Theo166

Theo166 wrote: »

888sisters_weight888 wrote: »

For having enjoyed some varieties of homemade kimchi, I can only recommend one of my sister's go-to with Korean Favourites: https://www.maangchi.com/recipes/kimchi
ETA typo

I just made a batch of the radish kimchi following her instruction. Super easy following her instructions, after I stocked up on the right ingredients from a local Asian Grocery. Took forever to find the Korean Chili powder on the shelves
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kkakdugi

Not my image, but looks darn close to what I ended up with.

Success!
I only let it ferment at room temp for two days but it's still quite good, I couldn't wait any longer
Now I'll see how it evolves in the fridge.

Theo166

Success with radish kimchi! I only let it ferment at room temp for two days but it's still quite good, I couldn't wait any longer Now I'll see how it evolves in the fridge.

Threw out the cabbage kimchi, it had overtones of mold.

Theo166 wrote: »

888sisters_weight888 wrote: »

For having enjoyed some varieties of homemade kimchi, I can only recommend one of my sister's go-to with Korean Favourites: https://www.maangchi.com/recipes/kimchi
ETA typo

I just made a batch of the radish kimchi following her instruction. Super easy following her instructions, after I stocked up on the right ingredients from a local Asian Grocery. Took forever to find the Korean Chili powder on the shelves
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kkakdugi

Not my image, but looks darn close to what I ended up with.

SiegfriedXXL

I've been using Maangchi's recipes for years. I make many types of kimchi to have on hand. She's wonderful and her recipes work well.

Birdygirl15

I have to thank you for the links to Michelle Obama's kimchi recipe and this one
http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-easy-kimchi-at-home-189390

I amalgamated ideas from both and have just opened my first jar of what passes for kimchi. It is delicious!!

I couldn't get daikon radish ( I live in a small coastal town on the English south coast, lucky to get coriander/cilantro down here ) nor Korean pepper, but will order some online for the next batch. So I used garden radishes, fresh chilli and chilli paste but the majority of my veg was green cabbage.

So yummy! Thanks again, folks and to the OP for starting this thread.

JetJaguar

We make our own kimchi all the time. Coincidentally, I just put up two jars of kimchi today, two cabbages worth. My wife is from China and her grandmother used to make it. I took a look at Michelle Obama's recipe and the recipe from thekitchn.com, and the way we make it is somewhere in between, maybe a bit closer to the latter.

Birdygirl15

Second batch of kimchi underway - loving this stuff! Still haven't got my hands on proper Korean pepper, I need to order online, but did wonder what it actually tastes like. Would ordinary hot chillies, fresh or dried with some smoked paprika be a good substitute? I'm just using some fresh mild-ish chillies plus some chilli paste to add colour and it tastes good to me.

Also, could I ask those of you in the US and buy kimchi from a store, what might be a good entry on the MFP database I could use as a reasonably accurate entry? I've just been told I have high blood pressure, and I'm preparing myself for being told to watch my salt intake when my blood tests are back. There are so many kimchi entries, many of them with no sodium recorded, I am lost. The only one with a green tick is "Chongga - Mat Kimchi". Any advice? I could try and estimate my own version, but so much of the salt is rinsed away or left in the juices, it is hard to know what to do.

Thanks in advance.

rileysowner

Birdygirl15 wrote: »

Second batch of kimchi underway - loving this stuff! Still haven't got my hands on proper Korean pepper, I need to order online, but did wonder what it actually tastes like. Would ordinary hot chillies, fresh or dried with some smoked paprika be a good substitute? I'm just using some fresh mild-ish chillies plus some chilli paste to add colour and it tastes good to me.

Also, could I ask those of you in the US and buy kimchi from a store, what might be a good entry on the MFP database I could use as a reasonably accurate entry? I've just been told I have high blood pressure, and I'm preparing myself for being told to watch my salt intake when my blood tests are back. There are so many kimchi entries, many of them with no sodium recorded, I am lost. The only one with a green tick is "Chongga - Mat Kimchi". Any advice? I could try and estimate my own version, but so much of the salt is rinsed away or left in the juices, it is hard to know what to do.

Thanks in advance.

Why not just put your ingredients in the recipe maker here and use that for your calories. Just weight the whole batch when done and make the number of serving equal to the total number of grams. Thus you have a 1 gram serving. Weigh the amount of Kimchi you are eating, and enter the grams as the number of serving.

Birdygirl15

Thank you, @rileysowner. Apologies, I didn't express myself well. I was trying to find a close match for sodium between a commercially made and homemade kimchi, not calories. A lot of the salt in a recipe is rinsed away during the process, so it is difficult to work out for a homemade version. I was hoping someone who uses both commercial and homemade could tell me if a particular brand, where the sodium levels are available on the MFP database, is close to the taste of homemade. Hope that makes sense.

I will just have to guess for my homemade pickle, working out the calories is easy (when I remember to note down the weights of everything ). Kimchi is not available in shops near me, and there seems little point in ordering online when it is so easy and cheap to make. I'll go with the one entry on the MFP database I found with a green tick against it for now.

dklibert

@Birdygirl15 Try searching for King's Kimchi. That is a brand I have bought. I saw a couple of entries for it in the data base.

Theo166

Boy that's a tough question since there seems a wide variation in how people manage their salt in all the recipes I looked at.

rileysowner

Birdygirl15 wrote: »

Thank you, @rileysowner. Apologies, I didn't express myself well. I was trying to find a close match for sodium between a commercially made and homemade kimchi, not calories. A lot of the salt in a recipe is rinsed away during the process, so it is difficult to work out for a homemade version. I was hoping someone who uses both commercial and homemade could tell me if a particular brand, where the sodium levels are available on the MFP database, is close to the taste of homemade. Hope that makes sense.

I will just have to guess for my homemade pickle, working out the calories is easy (when I remember to note down the weights of everything ). Kimchi is not available in shops near me, and there seems little point in ordering online when it is so easy and cheap to make. I'll go with the one entry on the MFP database I found with a green tick against it for now.

Unless you have sodium sensitive hypertension, sodium might not even be an issue for you. Many people have no sensitivity to sodium for their hypertension. For me it makes no difference. The only thing that does is meds and exercise.

Birdygirl15

Thank you @dklibert, I'll look for those!

And thanks again, @rileysowner, looks like I will have to see what the doctor says. That is something I didn't know, about sodium sensitivity.

And @Theo166 - sorry, didn't mean to put the cat amongst the pigeons. Just trying to be proactive for my own sake, now I am trying hard to sort my health out. Kimchi is still delicious, and I only eat about 80g a time, and not every day. Hopefully, if sodium is going to be a concern for me, that is not excessive and the fermented food aspect is a plus point

JetJaguar

I make Kimchi, and for the recipe I entered on MFP I guessed 1/8 tsp of salt to allow for sodium. I tried to do some research and couldn't find any information on how much sodium vegetables absorb from brine, but did for meats. Meat only absorbs 1% of the salt from a brine marinade, so I just guessed it's about the same (I use 1/4 cup of salt per batch). Could be way off, but I had nothing else to go on.

Birdygirl15

Thanks, @JetJaguar - you tried harder than me to find a reasonable salt figure. I might try reducing the salt I use in my next batch by about 25%, any less and I fear the pickle would not ferment properly and go bad. Also try and resist eating it too often, but it is so delicious.

I wonder what the health profiles of Koreans and other Far Eastern populations are for salt intake, given the soy, pickles, cured fish etc in their traditional diets? They generally seem to be in better shape than most western populations, until they take to our fast food culture. I lived in Indonesian Borneo years ago, was very overweight then too, and felt like a whale amongst the petite and slender local ladies.

I'll leave this query alone now, sorry to have hijacked the thread. Keep on pickling, and if anyone wants any tips or ideas on English condiments, I'd be happy to help and search out authentic recipes.

Sunna_W

According to Sandor Katz in Wild fermentation, salt is necessary to draw out water as well as preserve the food / begin the formation of lactic acid / probiotic process. He recommends 3 TBSP to 5 lbs cabbage. Even if you reduce the amount of cabbage (by half) the salt should remain at that level. Last Saturday I took two packages of store bought slaw mix (cabbage / carrots) and added salt only and weighed it down with a plate / a quart jar filled with water and covered from the bottom as well as the top in a loose plastic bag. It's now smelling like stinky feet and hissing... all good signs. I have the chili paste but I am going to add that later. I also brew my own Melomels (fruit mead) and I am of the opinion that keeping everything clean and simple yields the best results. Our ancestors didn't use a lot of fancy equipment and it obviously went okay - because we're here... so, I just do the minimum amount required with the least fuss and usually my fermentation experiments turn out rather well.

Theo166

Started my second batch of kimchi two days ago, excited to check it's progress later today since two days seems the recommended time in room temp before refrigeration. Felt like I was much further up the learning curve and now had all the essential ingredients. This time I used rice flour to make the porridge that is mixed with all the spices, which really improved appearances.

Highly recommend getting a fermentation crock to everyone. Mine was picked up at Goodwill and appeared to have never been used.

lilysillycat

I make kimchi all the time as it is recommended on a keto diet. I add a bit to my lunch everyday.

Theo166

Sunna_W wrote: »

According to Sandor Katz in Wild fermentation, salt is necessary to draw out water as well as preserve the food / begin the formation of lactic acid / probiotic process. He recommends 3 TBSP to 5 lbs cabbage. Even if you reduce the amount of cabbage (by half) the salt should remain at that level. Last Saturday I took two packages of store bought slaw mix (cabbage / carrots) and added salt only and weighed it down with a plate / a quart jar filled with water and covered from the bottom as well as the top in a loose plastic bag. It's now smelling like stinky feet and hissing... all good signs. I have the chili paste but I am going to add that later. I also brew my own Melomels (fruit mead) and I am of the opinion that keeping everything clean and simple yields the best results. Our ancestors didn't use a lot of fancy equipment and it obviously went okay - because we're here... so, I just do the minimum amount required with the least fuss and usually my fermentation experiments turn out rather well.

My first kimchi, the recipe didn't instruct me to rinse the cabbage after it had been salted and I added some of the brine water to submerge the cabbage. It was too salty. My recipe this time had me thoroughly rinse the cabbage after it had brined for an extended period. I don't anticipate it will be very salty this round.

I speculate that sauerkraut requires a higher salt level since it is fermenting at room temp for 3 weeks instead of maybe 3 days.

hiltbethanie

I make my own kimchi!
I love it! I also make my own kombucha and milk kefir. I'm doing sauerkraut next.
Ferments are fun and so versatile!

Birdygirl15

Theo166 wrote: »

Started my second batch of kimchi two days ago,

I'm on my third batch, just love it! Still not got around to ordering Korean pepper online, so this time I've added some smoked paprika, and because I'd run out of chilli paste, I used fresh mild chillies and added a bit of tomato paste. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Just going now to pack this batch into my Kilner jar (think you folk across the pond call them Mason jars). Luckily, my recent health checks didn't bring any orders to watch my salt intake, but I am doing so as I am now on hypertension medication, a low dose just now. Thanks to being advised to use King's brand of kimchi that you get over there as a guide to the nutrients etc, the salt content doesn't seem excessive.

Next product chez Birdygirl will be caramelised onion chutney. A family member loves the stuff, as do I. That's her Christmas gift sorted if I get it right, along with a selection of our delicious local cheeses.

Birdygirl15

Kimchi in an English kitchen

The cling film/plastic wrap is to help keep the odour to a reasonable level, or it tends to linger in my small flat. I reckon if I can smell the latest batch from my sitting room, it's ready for the fridge. A thick towel over the top helps too, and I stand the jars in a plastic box, although I have yet to have the kimchi overflow.

AllisonS79

I recently made my first batch! I used "regular" cabbage and radishes plus ginger, garlic, and apple. I used chili flakes I had on hand. I also over-salted, but after a few weeks the sour flavor mellowed the salt. I ate some every day and my complexion became great! Now I ran out and I'm breaking out again. Crazy! Time to make some more!

JeromeBarry1

I bought a bundle of bok choy a few weeks ago and it was so huge in my refrigerator that I decided that it was time to do something, anything, to get rid of bok choy without eating or tossing it. I chopped a bunch of it, a bunch of carrots, a bunch of celery, and an onion into little bits and eventually filled 2 1/2 gallon jars with this not-really-kimchi, for heat I added Sriracha, Tabasco, and crushed red peppers.

Using it is interesting. Sometimes I use the steamer to steam my vitamin C bearing vegetables, and that leaves them bland. A forkful of my kimchi plopped on top of my pile of bland steamed vegetables make it all much more palatable. I've even tried plopping kimchi on top of my pizza after removing it from the oven, but that's not something I've done lately. It's just incredibly easy to make kimchi.

There's a web site, KrazyKorean, I think, that gives instructions for making kimchi. I didn't use it for mine, but I enjoyed reading it.

JeromeBarry1

Birdygirl15 wrote: »

Me again Is piccalilli known in America? Love the stuff, can be sharp or sweet according to taste. Fabulous with ham, bacon and cold roast beef, or cold meat pies with raised crust pastry (not that us weight losers can eat much of that!).
Like most pickles, you can tweak the recipe if you can't get all the ingredients. My last batch used up whatever vinegars I had, and veg that Aldi had in their special buys that week.

https://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/pams-piccalilli is just one version. Mine is in an old recipe book I've had for years, but any one is adaptable.

Mom talked about picalilli once back in the 1970's. I think she made it only once.

Theo166

All, buying a bag of the Korean red pepper flakes is a good addition to your pantry. The pepper is pretty mild so you can use alot of it, which adds that nice red color to whatever you are cooking. Maybe it's like a mix of paprika and western chili powder.

RaeBeeBaby

Thank you for starting this thread! I just discovered it and have enjoyed reading about everyone's experiments with natural fermentation and pickling.

I've tried my hand at sauerkraut, pickled garlic, kimchi, pickled radishes (daikon & red), and kombucha with varying degrees of success. I truly liked the kimchi much better than the sauerkraut, plus it was a lot less work. While it was a good workout smashing on all that cabbage for the sauerkraut, it was just OK in the end. However, using napa cabbage for the kimchi was a snap in comparison. There's a lot more "water" in the napa and it fermented up nicely in just a couple days. I'm going to try some this week with pineapple. My resource for most of the recipes is Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. A wealth of information on traditional ways of eating, the health benefits of fermented foods, and loads of great ideas and recipes.

I'm also brewing up some kombucha right now. I go through kombucha phases and hadn't done it for awhile, so I didn't have a scoby. I decided to try growing my own, but it's a slow process. It took nearly a month before it was big and healthy enough for a full batch but now it's a-brewin!

Birdygirl15

JeromeBarry1 wrote: »

Mom talked about picalilli once back in the 1970's. I think she made it only once.

It's an acquired taste for non-Brits, I expect Was your mother from UK? My guess is it originated from the colonial days when we had an empire and many new foods and spices came back home. The heavy use of tumeric etc suggests the Indian sub continent to me. I think the Scandinavians and Germans might have mustard pickles too.

I'm with @RaeBeeBaby, I'm not bothering with sauerkraut again, the rest of the last jar I made is probably going to the compost bin, taking up room in my small fridge. Kimchi all the way for me, chutneys and that pickled garlic are others on the hit list.

This weekend there is a local food fair and one stall sells fabulous olives, garlics and other preserved goodies. Trouble is, the food tent is also crammed with every kind of cakes, breads, sweets, continental meats, ciders, wines - all the stuff someone using MFP should avoid! Lovely location though, right on our gorgeous Dorset coastline. Link for anyone interested in UK foodie culture. The second of the banner photos is of Dorset Blue Vinney cheese, the only unpasteurised blue cheese in this country, made by only one farm. It's fabulous!
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/burton-bradstock/features/spring-tide-food-festival-at-hive-beach