talked mrs wica into letting me make kimchi, after a long spell where the kitchen did not smell like rotting garlic oh, the happiness, the burning crunchy malodorous happiness as per usual, i winged the thing, thus the question marks: wash and quarter a napa cabbage [2 pounds?], cut into 1-inch or so pieces, coat with salt for a few hours, rinse, drain well throw some carrots [i used 4 or 5?], garlic [half a bulb?], ginger [1-2 inch piece?], a little soy sauce [1/4 cup?] and sugar [teaspoon? tablespoon? more?], and dried chilis [i used a 1/2 cup of powdered chilis] into the food processor, make a paste cut up some scallions [1/2 bunch?], mix with paste mix together, stuff [cram!] into clean jars, keep warm for a few days to a week, test, refrigerate to stop the fermenting 1 day down, 6 to go . . .
What exactly do you do with it after the time is up? Is it like a chutney or something? I'm trying to visualise it but it's not happening.
side dish/condiment, unless you like it as much as i do rice, tofu or beans, kimchi - meal done you can make a soup too, but i have not tried this
it's all raw, it's pickles! can't get any bacteria going if you cook the stuff, right? just put them out in the sun for the afternoon - in korea they bury the jars [i'm told] for the heat in montana the ground is too hard to dig . . .
not that i'm aware of, they're not any different from any other real pickle i'd guess - the one time i made them wrong [too cool a room] they just didn't ferment properly and tasted flat [there's supposed to be a little fizz] you might want to cut back on the chilis if you don't like the heat - i think i went a little overboard [i usually do] i want to start making japanese pickles again some day - made an aborted effort earlier, need a proper tub, need rice bran, need miso - indian pickles are intriguing as well, there is a hot lemon pickle i've never tried and need to learn about . . .
But ''pickled'' and ''fermented'' are two completely different things... pickled would be if they are stored in vinegar for a while... fermented is pretty much rotting...
true, but real vinegar is a product of fermentation as well . . . here's a page that talks about fermentation procedures should note that i am extremely casual re food safety, and am still alive [i think] was just looking at the wikipedia page on indian pickles and oh, there's a whole world of them - need to do some online purchasing and see what the damn things are supposed to taste like first, perhaps?
Oh so theres 2 ways of picking. Very interesting. You learn something new everyday I guess! I love tasting new food. If youre still alive and posting in a few weeks, I'll give it a go. And reading this thread right now just gave me a serious case of the munchies. I have dill pickles and pickled eggplant in my fridge and I'm gonna eat the shit out that right now!
you changed your stinky plant, and for some reason i don't see an edit button the dead body plant even harder to find in montana, though dead bodies are everywhere have been researching simple chinese pickles much, i think i need to start buying old crock pots at the thrift store again . . .
sauerkraut...middle european kimchi...what i learned about making sauerkraut...don't try it in cold weather. it won't properly ferment. i heard this from a guy who was in korea, the koreans bury kimchi outisde the house. depending on the weather, they may bury it 4 foot down....to keep it 'alive'. you might like trying this, too, wa. http://www.boingboing.net/2009/01/12/making-sauerkraut-is.html http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Kimchi
tanks for the sauerkraut page especially, i've always wanted to get katz's book [never have the $] made kimchi in the winter once a few years back, it did not turn out properly, thus was confused by wikihow's statement to keep it cool i might take a peek tomorrow and see how it's coming . . .
waited til this morning bulging lids, fizzy when removed, tasted hot and nasty, i think we're done here wish i had a working camera, sorry . . . was thinking about crock pots last night, not sure what the minimum temp is on them, but surely you could add a resistor to lower it to a perfect stable pickling degree?
