Kimchi

I started my first batch of Kimchi last night. Adapted the recipe slightly but hopefully not enough to stop the cabbage fermenting.

Already had a taste this morning and as a fresh kimchi it tastes pretty good so hopefully after a week it will have done it’s thing and have the sour taste from the fermentation.

I didn’t have ground chilli peppers – just dried chopped chilli so it doesn’t have quite the characteristic red of a usual kimchi. I need to find my nearest Korean supermarket!

The recipe I used can be found Here

Kimchi is a spicy fermented cabbage that can be found all over Korea – and there are as many varieties of it as there are Koreans I suspect. Everyone will have their own favourite recipe, from a very Western palate friendly White Kimchi to a very old, pungent kimchis that are almost paste like.

Aside from the brined cabbage and the spring onions and radish I also added garlic, ginger, anchovy fillets, sugar, fish sauce and lots of red chilli flakes. 

  UPDATE 19.04.2015

Only 2 days later but already the kimchi is fermenting well, bubbles rising and the lid popping when I open it.

As for the smell and taste – the smell is still sweet and spicy – not really pungent of the cabbage yet. The taste has developed more and the spice is more complex with the garlic and ginger mellowed but the chilli coming more to the fore.

I suspect it will be ready tomorrow – Tuesday at the latest, at which stage I will refrigerate it to slow the fermentation right down.

UPDATE 21/04/15

Yesterday when I opened the pot of kimchi, so much gas had gathered that  it sprayed me with spicy brine as it popped open! This morning I have opened it very carefully (and away from me) but this morning the fermentation seems to have slowed. I think it is now time to refrigerate it. My other main observation is the smell – it filled my kitchen instantly with a spicy, sweet, sour spicy garlicky smell. I’m conscious that many would find this malodorous emmination offensive, however I will admit that it gets me salivating!!