Kimchi – Digby Style (basic)

Kimchi, fermented spicy vegetables, is originally from Korea.

We can’t get the same ingredients here in Digby though.
Plus many people around us are avoiding sugar and gluten.

So we made our original Digy Style Kimchi with locally available ingredients.

Our Digby Style Kimchi is:

• Sugar-free
• Gluten-free (*if you use rice Miso, gluten-free soy sauce or fish sauce)
• Uses local products such as dulse from Fundy Dulse and oyster mushroom powder from Bullygoth Farm

Hope you enjoy it.

Leafy Green Kimchi
Ingredients:

(yeild – approx. 1kg)

• 2lb     leafy vegetables (lettuce, boc choi, Mizuna, Chinese cabbage, etc)
• ½ cup    turnip or Daikon radish, matchsticks
• ½ cup    carrot, matchsticks
• ½ tsp      sea salt
• ½ cup     chives/green onions, chopped 1” long
• 1 tbsp     roasted sesame seeds

Spicy brine/marinade sauce

< A >

• 1 cup of water
• ½ cup dates, pitted
• 1~3 tbsp cayenne pepper powder
• 1 tbsp dulse flake
• 1 tbsp oyster mushroom powder

< B >

• 3/4 cup of water
• ½ medium apple, cored
• Ginger, a thumb-sized, peeled
• 2~3 cloves of garlic, peeled and bottom off
• ¼ cup light yellow Miso (sub with 2 tbsp soy sauce or 1 tsp fish sauce)
• Sea salt to season

3 Basic Steps of Kimchi Making:

1. Salt vegetable(s)
2. Make spicy brine/sauce
3. Pack & ferment

Ready to eat in 3~5 days (though it tastes milder after a week or 2).
Can keep in the fridge for a few months.

How to salt vegetables:

Direct salt method

1. Wash vegetables, drain
2. Weigh
3. Directly sprinkle 5% salt over vegetables

e.g. for 1kg of vegetables  1,000×0.05=50g

Salt brine method

1. Wash vegetables, drain
2. Mix 1 portion of salt and 9 portion of water
   e.g. 1 cup of salt + 9 cups of water
3. Pour over the vegetables to cover at least half of the volume
4. Cover with a flat plate
5. Weigh overnight (you can leave it on the counter)

• Vegetables can be cut into bite size prior to salting
• Add more 10% salt brine (salt:water=1:9) to completely cover the vegetables if necessary.
• Vegetables should be completely submerged into the brine in the end.

The night before:

Salt leafy green: Use salt brine method (above) using 1 cup of salt + 9 cups of water.

Next day:

1. Use ingredients A for the spicy brine.
   Put water and dates in a pot. Heat it until it the water boils.
   Turn the heat off.
   Add the rest of the ingredients. Let it cool.
2. Sprinkle ½ tsp salt over matchstick turnip and carrot. Mix well.
   Set aside. When the water comes out, drain
3. In a blender, mix 1 (cooled dates water) and the rest of the ingredients for the spicy brine.
   
4. In a large mixing bowl, mix 2, 3, chopped chives and sesame seeds.
   
5. Rinse salted lettuce with fresh water a few times and squeeze the water off.
   Taste it – it should be a little bit but not overly saltier than the taste you normally enjoy. Rinse more as needed.
   Drain water and cut into desired size.
6. Add 5 into the spicy mixture and mix well. Taste the lettuce and add sea salt if necessary.
   
7. Pack the mixture into a wide mouth mason jar (about 70%). Press with a 125ml mason jar and plastic lid (see the picture below). Set on a container or plate to catch the overflow.
8. Leave in the room temperature for 1~3 days (or longer if you prefer).
   Store in refrigerator after it ferments as you like.

2-mason-jar method

Note:

Try with different vegetables.
Kimchi – Bean