Fermented food recipes.

BBC Two - Trust Me, I'm a Doctor, Series 6, Episode 1 - Fermented food recipes:
Fancy making your own fermented foods and drinks?
Why not try these recipes courtesy of Simon Poffley, Gaba Smolinska Poffley, Anna Drozdova and The Fermentarium.

Just remember that if you’re making your own fermented foods it’s important to prepare them safely so as not to encourage the growth of ‘bad’ bacteria.
This means using the right equipment and ingredients, following a recipe and storing the food at an appropriate temperature for the correct amount of time.
If you are unsure, seek expert advice.
Recipe:
- Milk Kefir
- Vegetarian kimchi
- Kombucha
- Cabbage and apple sauerkraut
- Homemade cottage/farm cheese

Kimchi. By Amy Chaplin.

Kimchi - Amy Chaplin

I was introduced to the excitement and delight of fermenting foods by Sandor Katz (mentioned here). After a five day workshop with him all I wanted to do was retreat to a country kitchen and experiment. He showed us how to make ferments from all over the world: miso, cheese, mead, dosa, injera and even fruit kimchi. All these recipes and his broad knowledge and unique experience are beautifully put together in his book Wild Fermentation. I highly recommend it. Kimchi was the first thing I made after that inspiring workshop and we put it on the menu at Angelica Kitchen immediately.


Kimchi is a spicy Korean condiment made from cabbage that is fermented with chili, garlic, ginger, scallions and some times fish. The recipe below is a basic fermentation method and can be adapted to any flavor/vegetable combination you want . Make it with just cabbage and it’s sauerkraut, then try adding other flavors to that like caraway seeds, curry spices, mustard seeds…the sky is the limit. Making kimchi, sauerkraut or pickles is a great way to preserve the last of the local cabbage and all those colorful chilis.

Traditional cultures from all over the world consumed a variety of fermented foods in their daily diet from kimchi and soybean ferments like: miso, tempeh and tamari in Asia; sourdough breads and sauerkraut in Russia; and fermented dairy products like kefir, yogurt and cultured butters in all parts of Europe. These days we eat far less, if any ferments, and further, many of the things we consume, like antibiotics, chlorinated drinking water, alcohol and even antiseptic mouth washes decimate the “good” intestinal bacteria, disrupting the delicate balance.

Lactobacillus acidophilus found in fermented foods is not only beneficial in restoring healthy intestinal flora, a key factor to assimilating nutrients in the digestion process, but also helps the body produce natural antibiotics (supporting your immune system) and anti-carcinogenic compounds (helping to fight cancer).
Adding just a 1/4 cup of sauerkraut, kimchi or other naturally fermented pickle to your daily diet will boost and maintain helpful intestinal bacteria. Make sure that the sauerkraut and pickles you buy are naturally fermented and unpasteurized to ensure that you are getting your daily dose of active live enzymes.

kimchi ingredients, left out the cilantro
“The science and art of fermentation is, in fact, the basis of human culture: without culturing, there is no culture…. Culture begins at the farm, not at the opera house, and binds a people to a land and its artisans.” Sally Fallon

ready to ferment
packing the kimchi
day 1
day 7
P.S. Check out rodale.com for more health tips from me.

Kimchi

1 Napa cabbage (1 3/4 pound), you can also use green cabbage
2 carrots, thinly sliced
6 radishes, thinly sliced
6 to 8 scallions or a medium onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 inch piece ginger
4 large cloves garlic
4 red jalapeño or other kind of chili, more if you like it hot
2 1/2 tsp sea salt

Slice cabbage and place in a large bowl. Add carrots, radishes and onion.
Peel ginger and place in a food processor with garlic and chili. Process until finely minced and add to the bowl with cabbage. Sprinkle with sea salt and using your hands mix everything, kind of massaging everything together, until the cabbage wilts and gets juicy. It should taste a little saltier than you would prefer, this changes as it ferments.

Pack into a crock or vase with straight sides, packing it down with your fist as you go, the liquid should come to the top.

Use a small plate, that fits inside the crock to keep the kimchi down and top with a jar filled with water. The idea is to keep the liquid covering the top of the kimchi, it acts as a seal. Cover everything with a cloth to keep any bugs out. Place in a well ventilated (it will smell), cool area and let it ferment for 5 to 7 days. The length of time will depend on the temperature of your kitchen. Taste after 5 days and if you feel that the flavor is well developed and to your liking then it’s ready.

Remove weight and scoop off any mould or discoloration that is floating on the liquid or the top of the cabbage. Drain liquid off and drink it if you like, or use in salad dressings, chilled soups or add some to your next batch.

Pack kimchi into jars and store in the refrigerator. It lasts for months, the cold temperature will slow the fermentation but not stop it completely, so it may get stronger. Enjoy!
Makes about 4 cups.

Kimchi Radish Pickle.

Kimchi Radish Pickle Recipe - NYT Cooking
INGREDIENTS
1 ¾ pounds radishes (a mix of different types, if possible)
1 ½ tablespoons coarse kosher salt
2 tablespoons Korean chile flakes (not powder)
1 inch-long piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and grated
1 large garlic clove, minced or grated
3 anchovy fillets (optional)
½ teaspoon sugar

PREPARATION
Scrub radishes well with a vegetable brush under cool running water. If using thick-skinned radishes such as watermelon, peel away any hairy or brown spots (you can either leave the rest of the skin on or peel radishes completely). If using small table radishes (usually red, purple, pink or white), trim away roots and most of the green stems, leaving 1/8 inch on top. Halve or quarter smaller radishes; cut larger radishes into bite-size wedges.
Place radishes in a bowl and toss with salt. Let rest for 20 minutes. Drain radishes in a colander set over a bowl, reserving brined juices. Rinse radishes quickly, then shake them to remove excess water.
Prepare the chile paste: In a large bowl, stir together 1/4 cup water with chile flakes, ginger, garlic, anchovies (if using) and sugar. Add drained radishes and mix well to coat with paste. Pack into a 1-quart jar (or 2 smaller jars), then pour the reserved brine into the bowl with the chile paste residue, swish it around to capture leftover seasonings, and pour brine into jar (the liquid will not cover the radishes). Cover and let stand at room temperature overnight. Refrigerate and eat within 1 week.

How to Make Any Kind of Kimchi Without a Recipe

How to Make Any Kind of Kimchi Without a Recipe
Kimchi is the solution to an overload of just about any vegetable.
Prepare to get your hands dirty and dedicate some serious fridge space to the cause.
Here's how to do it:
1. Gather equipment and ingredients.
Many Korean families have a mini fridge just for their kimchi—I’ll call that optional. You will need a very large bowl (plastic, glass, doesn’t matter) or plastic tub. That’ll be the place where you salt and prep your vegetables—oh, you’ll need a considerable amount of coarse salt, too. Think about how you’ll store your kimchi: Plastic containers will retain the orangey-red color and garlicky smell of the kimchi. Mason jars can work, or you can find a gallon-sized glass jar online, if not at a local kitchenwares shop, to store your whole batch.
Then, think about what you’re going to turn into kimchi. Those items that make you say, “What am I going to do with all of this!?” They’re usually great candidates. After napa cabbage, radishes take the number two spot on the kimchi totem pole. (Think daikon, not spicy French radishes.) You can julienne a large radish with a mandoline or cut it into cubes. Other great options are cucumbers (slice large ones in rounds and small ones in quarters lengthwise), zucchini, squash, tough leafy greens, or scallions. Those would be the traditional choices, but there’s nothing stopping you from testing out other farmers market finds.

As you’re shopping, eyeball about a gallon’s worth of veg—that’s a good amount to start with for your kimchi adventure. You can also mix and match what you decide to kimchi: Watercress, daikon, and scallions all in one jar? I’m not stopping you.

Things that won’t work would include anything with too distinct a flavor (beets, most fruits—kimchi’s powerful flavor doesn’t play well with others), or anything too dense to tenderize during marinating (carrots are tricky, for example, unless they’re julienned).

2. Prepare the vegetables and get layering.
Now, clean up your vegetables. Depending on what you’re fermenting, preparation can differ. The goal here is to get everything thoroughly covered when marinating, but to keep some texture intact. If using cabbage, trim tops of leaves, cut in half, and remove the core, separating out each leaf. Green onions and leafy greens are usually left whole. If using daikon radish, peel and cut into cubes. If using cucumbers or zucchini, large ones can be cut into rounds and small ones into quarters lengthwise.

Next, pack in a single layer of your prepared kimchi base (cabbage, radish, or whatever you’ve chosen) into your large container/tub. Sprinkle with coarse salt and repeat until you’ve layered in and salted all of your vegetables. Be careful not to go salt crazy; you’re just using enough to remove some moisture and clean the vegetable, not enough to create a super-seasoned kimchi. Let the salted vegetables sit for 3 to 4 hours at room temperature. You can cover with plastic wrap or clean kitchen towels if you’re concerned about cleanliness, but it’s not necessary.
3. Make the “sauce.”
Meanwhile, you can get to work on the seasoning. Combine roughly chopped onion, chopped apple or pear, and two small palmfuls of your briny addition (Saeujeot, miso) to a food processor. Toss in a knob of chopped ginger, about the size of your pinky finger. Finally, go garlic crazy. About 10 peeled cloves should be added to the mixture. Purée. You can add a little bit of water if the mixture is too pasty. You should end up with something that’s about the consistency of applesauce.
Stir in a bunch of scallions that have been roughly chopped, and a julienned carrot to give some texture to the purée. (If you’re making scallion kimchi, you can skip the scallions here.) Finally, toss in two big handfuls of gochugaru, the Korean red pepper flakes. Let the kimchi sauce sit and marinate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 4 hours—the longer the better—at room temperature. Again, cover if you wish.

4. Test the salted vegetables.
You’ll know your veggies are ready for saucing by their taste and texture. After a few hours of sitting in the salt, cut off a small piece, rinse off the excess salt, and taste. The salting will have given it a slightly sour flavor and tenderized it to the point where the snap is gone but there’s still a bit of bite. Think of a favorite kimchi you’ve had and match that texture. The kimchi won’t change much texturally as it ferments.

5. Combine the vegetables and the seasoning.
Time for the fun part! Rinse your vegetables to remove excess salt and pat dry. You might want pull on some rubber gloves now to avoid having bright red, garlic-scented hands for the next few days. Gather your large bowl/container from before and the jars you’ll be using to store your kimchi. Now, pretend you’re making a lasagna: Pack in a single layer of vegetable and then cover generously with the sauce, like topping lasagna noodles with tomato sauce. Spread around and use your hands to gently massage sauce into crevices if need be. Repeat until you’ve used up all of your marinade. Pack your jar(s) with your sauced kimchi if you haven’t been already. Cover the jar’s opening with a layer of plastic wrap (it helps to contain the odor) and place the lid tightly on top.
6. Let it sit.
Leave your kimchi outside of the refrigerator overnight to kickstart fermentation. Taste it in the morning to make sure the funkiness has set in and then transfer to your refrigerator. Pro tip: After a few days, flip the jar upside-down and to distribute the goodness; just make sure the lid is secured tightly to prevent kimchi juice from spilling all over the fridge; flip back to right-side up a day or two later.
Kimchi can be eaten right away, though each day that passes will deepen its flavors, and will keep for a few months. Some people believe kimchi never goes bad, but if you taste it and there’s an unpleasant “fizz,” you might want to skip. Kimchi’s shelf life decreases if you’ve included fresh seafood, like oysters, in your mix. But not eating the kimchi fast enough probably won’t be a problem.