Kimchi

Ingredients:

Ratio below is for 5 Lbs of vegetables - adjust as needed.

• 1/2 cup Gochugaru - Koran hot pepper powder (online or Asian market) can substitute Sriracha
• 1/4 cup Light soy sauce
• 1/4 cup Fish sauce
• 40 g Garlic, whole cloves
• 50 g Ginger, peeled, rough sliced
• 4 ea Dried shrimp or 1 tsp of shrimp paste

Vegetables (Day 1):

• 45 g of salt for 5 Lbs of vegetables (2268 grams) @ 2% ratio
• 3 Lbs Napa cabbage - sliced 3/4 in thick and washed well with cold water
• 6 oz Scallions, sliced
• 10 oz Carrots, peeled and thinly sliced or julienned.
• 10 oz Daikon radish, peeled and thinly sliced
• 6 oz Asian pear, peeled and thinly sliced
• Wash all vegetables well in cold water.

Directions:

Day one

• cure vegetables in 2% salt in refrigerator overnight.

Day two - make sauce

• Preheat oven to 400
• In food processor add the garlic and ginger and process until evenly minced. Add fish sauce and soy sauce and process until evenly minced.
• On a 1/4 sheet pan, toast shrimp about 5 minutes or until toasty - brittle but not browning.
• Using mortar and pestle, grind dried shrimp and add to food processor and combine
• Add gochugaru last and pulse briefly.
• Strain off brine from cured vegetables and thin paste with brine - approximately 1/2 of brine. Reserve excess brine until completed.
• Toss the cured vegetables with thinned KimChi paste, combine in a food safe (non-reactive) container. Weight down vegetables to keep them submerged under the liquid. Cover with cheese cloth and let ferment for 2-4 days. Optimum fermenting temperature is 68 degrees.

Alternatively, you can combine vegetables in a non-reactive container and place directly into the fridge to ferment over 4-5 days. Traditional method is preferred however.