Fermented Veggies #3 : Easy Kimchi

Well, maybe I should say, easier. Because it still takes some effort to make this simplified kimchi. 

It's not my original idea of course. I got this from the internet and at first I thought it won't taste good.

I used one Chinese cabbage (Napa cabbage) and two carrots. That's it. No daikon. No spring onions. No chives.

I just rinsed the cabbage leaves, one by one because sometimes I find worms in between the leaves. Eeeeks!

Then the cabbage leaves were drained and cut into bite sized pieces. I also grated the carrots.

I weighed the whole lot - 1,460g. Then I weighed out 2% salt, approximately 29g. Ah! You say! Must weigh, ah? Where got easy? Or simple? Well.

To me, it is easier compared to this one (which I said was easy, at the time LOL!). There is no need to make a paste (porridge) using glutinous rice flour and sugar (which you had to boil). 

And then wait for the porridge to cool down and then blend with garlic, ginger and yellow onions. What a hassle.

So this one is simple. OK, simpler.

I basically layered the cabbage and carrots with salt, just like making sauerkraut.  I mixed everything up and left it to stand for about an hour.

As you can see, the cabbage shrunk and released a lot of water.

Meanwhile, I pounded 6 cloves of garlic and a thumb sized piece of ginger.

To make kimchi, you need these salty stinky stuff. You can just use fish sauce. But I added budu (fermented fish) for the extra kick. Hah!

Mix the pounded garlic, ginger, one tablespoon of fish sauce, one tablespoon of budu and Korean chili flakes. The chili flakes I might have used 3 or 4 heaped tablespoons.

Add the cabbage/carrots in, bit by bit to mix into the garlic/ginger/fish sauce/budu/chili flakes mixture.

Also add in the water released by the cabbage. Mix, mix, mix. I find this very therapeutic.

Then transfer the mixture into bottles.

I managed to fill three bottles. The next day, I used a clean spoon to push the cabbage down so that it is submerged into the kimchi brine (as the veggies tend to float up due to gasses released during fermentation).

I should have left more space between the top of the kimchi and bottle cap.

Because the following evening, the gas build up pushed the contents right up to the top (which is a good sign as it indicates that the kimchi is fermenting).

Which caused the kimchi juices to spill out from the bottles >.<

Due to the current hot weather, fermentation takes a shorter time. One day instead of two or three days.

To check if the kimchi is ready, just taste the liquid. If it is sour, that's it. Done! Store the bottles in the fridge and enjoy!

Oh, let me share my latest cat crush hah..hah...

Otis! He is so cute!

I doubt if I could get any of my girls to wear a hat. LOL!