Kimchi for the people: Nick Vadasz’s ferment that bites back

If you’re intrigued by ferments, you’ve got to have a decent kimchi recipe up your sleeve, like this one from Nick Vadasz, aka The Picklesman.

Kimchi recipe

Makes: about 2kg

Ingredients:

2 heads of Chinese leaves, about 600-800g each, cored, quartered lengthways and cut into big pieces

600g mixed carrots and daikon (or any radishes or other root/hard vegetables that you can eat raw, such as turnips, celeriac or kohlrabi – even fennel and rhubarb ferment really well too), scrubbed if needed and cut into 2-4cm pieces

2 big bunches (about 10-12) spring onions, chopped

1 garlic bulb, cloves peeled

100g fresh root ginger, chopped

75g gochugaru (Korean red pepper powder)

Water, to blend

About 2 tbsp fine natural sea salt

Method:

1. You will need two large lidded plastic food storage containers of the same size, each about four litres in capacity – reusing thoroughly cleaned ice-cream tubs with lids are perfect.

2. Wash all the vegetables thoroughly, then drain and add to a very large mixing bowl.

3. Put the garlic, ginger and gochugaru in a food processor or blender and blend with just enough water to form a paste.

4. Weigh all the vegetables and the paste then calculate 2% of that figure. Add that amount of salt or add the two tablespoons listed. Add the paste and salt to the vegetables and mix well with your hands, then gently rub into the vegetables. Now try a bit – it should taste saltier than you would like to eat it. Your veg mix should become slightly limp, and the juices drawn from the vegetables by the salt should start to appear. This liquid contains the vegetables’ sugars that naturally occurring yeasts will begin to work on, creating an environment in which lactic acid bacteria (LAB) will begin to grow, and over time help to create the wonderful deep, tangy taste of fermented kimchi.

5. Pack the kimchi into lidded food storage containers of your choice, then submerge fully in its brine following the weighted second container method or the smaller lidded container method (below).

6. Leave to ferment at room temperature for 3–5 days, tasting every few days to check progress and to ensure the brine is covering the kimchi or at least remains as anaerobic as possible.

7. After 3–5 days you should have a tasty, tangy kimchi, as it ferments quickly in a warm ambient temperature. However, long, low and slow is best, so I would recommend storing it in the coolest part of your home/ kitchen in summer, and somewhere slightly warmer in the winter. It may need 10 days or more in colder weather – keep tasting and leave as long as you need to achieve your desired flavour. When it’s to your taste, store in the fridge as it is, or divide between smaller lidded food storage containers to keep for up to three months or so, but most likely you’ll be eating it with everything and it won’t last long!

WEIGHTED SECOND CONTAINER METHOD: When using a large food storage container for fermenting, such as 4-litre recycled ice-cream tub, fill a second lidded container of the same size with water and put the lid on. Place directly on top of your fermenting vegetables so that they are compacted beneath. Carefully covered the stacked containers with a muslin cloth or clean tea towel to prevent any flies or other unwanted visitors getting in. During fermentation, the C02 gas created by the lactic acid bacteria as they consume all the natural sugars present in the vegetables will often cause brine to seep out of the top of your container, so place the containers in a suitable vessel for the brine to overflow into.

SMALLER LIDDED CONTAINER METHOD:  If using small food storage containers, you brine and ingredients may already reach the tip of the container once packed. In this case, simply cover with clean surplus cabbage leaves or other vegetable trimmings, or some baking paper of clingfilm so that this top layer sits proud at the top of the container. As yous secure the lid, it will push the ingredients down into the brine, creating the anaerobic seal you need. If your ingredients don’t reach the top of the container once packed, place some scrunched-up unused freezer bags on top to fill the gap. Place in a suitable vessel for the brine to overflow into.

Recipe from ‘The Pickle Jar’ by Nick Vadasz (Hamlyn, £20).