Dania Lyew, a MsC student Food Safety from Panama You can find all the flavours of the world in the WUR community. Dania Lyew, an MSc student of Food Safety from Panama, shares a recipe for kimchi.
‘I spent six years in South Korea, where I studied Food Science and learned how to make kimchi. After moving to the Netherlands, kimchi was the dish I missed the most. So I decided to prepare it myself to accompany other dishes. Every time it rains, I enjoy fermenting vegetables as an indoor activity. And it works better because the humidity is higher.’
Ingredients for 2 jars of kimchi
2 Chinese cabbages
175g coarse sea salt
10 garlic cloves and 1 onion
1 tablespoon grated ginger
4 tablespoon Korean pepper flakes
12g rice flour
1 apple
1/3 cup prune or plum juice
100 ml water
2 tablespoons fermented soybean paste or 50 ml fish sauce (for the non-vegan version)
500g daikon or regular radishes, julienned
2 tablespoons gochujang paste or hot pepper paste
5 spring onions cut into rings
½ carrot, julienned
1 white onion
1 small leek, cut into diagonal rings
2 sterilized canning or stash glass jars
Method
- Cut the cabbages into quarters and remove the hard core. Then cut the wedges into bite-sized pieces. Wash the cabbage in cold water and drain. Sprinkle the cabbage leaves with salt and massage them in briefly. Add water until the leaves are covered and let them stand for 2 hours, stirring every half hour.
- Rinse the cabbage and check that the leaves taste slightly salty. If the leaves are too salty, rinse well again and then drain the cabbage and start on the kimchi paste.
- Mix the rice flour with the water and bring to the boil while stirring. Let it cool, stirring occasionally.
- Blend the onion, garlic, ginger, apple and fermented soybean paste (or fish sauce) into a paste in the food processor. Add the cooled rice flour porridge and stir in the red pepper flakes. Stir well and add the carrot, spring onion, daikon and leek.
- Stir the kimchi paste in with the cabbage and rub it into the leaves, which should be covered in the paste. Fill the canning jars to two centimetres below the rim and press the mixture down. Cover the kimchi with a layer of paste, which will make it keep for longer. Close the jars.
- Leave the jars at room temperature for one or two days. Then open them and press the vegetables down firmly. Close the jars and store them in the fridge. The kimchi tastes best after two to three weeks.
