Tonight I went over to Kevin’s & Julie’s house to make a batch of fresh kim chi. Kevin & Julie are the owners of my favorite letterpress business, Yee Haw Industries. Kim chi is a spicy Korean pickle dish that gets its magical zing by fermentation. It’s best to do this in a group because chopping the ingredients takes forever! You can use a food processor to save time but the texture is better if you do it by hand. Get a large food-safe bucket with a tight lid to mix and store the mixture.
Ingredients:
several heads of napa cabbage (however much will fit in your bucket)
several daikons (half as much volume as cabbage)
garlic (lots)
ginger (also lots)
green onions (equal proportion to the daikon)
cayenne pepper flakes (lots)
salt (equal proportion to cayenne)
2 cans of anchovies
Directions:
Mince the garlic and the ginger. Cut the green onions into thirds and sliver them thinly. Cut the napa cabbage into 1-2″ chunks. Peel the daikons, cut them into rounds about 1/3 of an inch wide, then cut each round into 4 equal quarters. Mince the anchovies, saving the juice. Combine all ingredients in a bucket. Put on a rubber glove if you’ve got one and mix thoroughly, turning and twisting the mixture to coat everything and crush the cabbage. There are no wet ingredients in this recipe (other than the little bit of anchovy oil) but the salt will draw a surprising amount of water out of the cabbage. Cover this aromatic mixture with the lid and let it sit at room temperature for 2-3 days, mixing every day if possible. After this time your kim chi is ready. Transfer it from the bucket into canning jars, reused pickle jars, or anything from your recycling bin with a tight-fitting lid (make sure it’s clean, of course). Refrigerate and share extra jars with anyone who loves spicy food and pickles.
-Christa
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