Kim Chee is truly a living food.
Here’s the rundown on kimchee really fast, if you don’t know what it is! It’s a Korean dish, usually fermented napa cabbage and green onions, with chili flakes, garlic and ginger, although it’s often made with daikon radish, cucumber and greens. I have even seen fruit kimchee! I love the hot and tangy flavor of it, but it’s also usually made with fish sauce or oysters, wheat or rice flour and msg. So, making it at home is a fun project and ensures that you know exactly what’s in it. I am a big proponent of regular consumption of fermented foods, such as sauerkraut, kimchee and fermented beverages like kombucha and kefir. These foods help enhance immunity, create glowing skin and improve digestion and intestinal health.
Today I am showing the kimchee with a simple salad, because I love pairing the crisp greens and vegetables with the intensity of the cultured cabbage.
There are so many uses for this amazing food-I will be sharing more soon!
- 1 head Napa Cabbage
- 2 bunches green onions, chopped in 2 inch pieces
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 Tablespoons ginger, grated
- 1 cup korean chili flakes
- 1 Tablespoon chickpea miso
- filtered water as needed
- Cut cabbage in half length wise. Fill a large bowl with water and ½ cup sea salt. Submerge cabbage in water and soak for at least two hours, until wilted.
- Drain salt water, but save some of it to the side, and rinse cabbage halves very well. Make a paste out of the chili flakes, garlic, ginger, miso and water as needed. You can simply stir it all together in a bowl and add water little by little until it forms a paste that is the consistency of a thin pancake batter. Fold in the chopped green onions.
- Ok, this is where it gets messy! Remove the large outer leaves of the soaked napa cabbage halves. Rub the chili paste between all the leaves and on the outside of the cabbage. Use the outer leaves to wrap the cabbage halves into neat bundles and then pack them into a jar or plastic container and cover the cabbage with some of the leftover cabbage soaking brine. Allow this to sit covered on your counter for 2 days to a week. You can open the container to check its progress or to take a nibble! It will be bubbly and funky, but not rotten.
- 2 cups butter lettuce or spring mix
- 2 carrots, peeled and cut into matchstick pieces
- 1 sheet raw sushi nori, cut into thin strips
- Other vegetables I highly recommend-cucumber, spicy sprouts, red cabbage, radish, avocado
- sesame seeds as garnish
- ⅓ cup sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon ume vinegar
- ¼ cup maple
- 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- Mix dressing ingredients together in a bowl and whisk by hand.
- Dress salad to taste and top with about ¼ cup kim che
Do you need to use filtered water?
Thank you in advance.
Jil
I recommend using filtered water if possible!
Does it have to be chickpea miso or can I use regular red miso?
feel free to sub any miso 🙂