Jalapeño Kimchi
KIMCHI! Kimchi is one of the quintessential ferments. I mean, most people actually know about kimchi even if they haven’t tasted it so that is miles ahead of most other cultured foods. This one I divided the jalapeños and broiled some in the oven, sliced, and sliced the others to ferment fresh. The result was a smoky, gorgeous kimchi.
Equipment
- Gallon jar with or without airlock or a 2 quart jar (I use a giant pickle jar for this)
- fermenting weight(s)
Ingredients
- 1 Napa Cabbage quartered and chopped
- 1/2 red onion thinly sliced
- 1 bunch green onions chopped into 1″ pieces
- 2-3 inch piece of ginger
- 3 tbsp Kosher Salt divided
- 5-6 jalapeños divided (about 1 cup sliced)
- 4-5 carrots peeled and rinsed
- 1 bunch radishes about 1 cup sliced
- 1 red or green pepper quartered and sliced (red retains its color better)
- 1 large green apple diced
- 1 tbsp Coconut Aminos
- 1/4 cup water to puree apple, ginger & onion
- 2-3 tsp smoked paprika
Instructions
- Sanitize a large 68oz jar or two roughly 2 liter jars and fermenting weights in the oven at 180ºF for 5 minutes.
- Wash and quarter your cabbage lengthwise, then chop to desired length. Thicker is more authentic (about 1 inch), but I chopped mine to about a half inch. Place in a large bowl, toss with 2 Tablespoons kosher salt and set aside for at least 30 minutes for it to begin to ferment.
- Slice and then divide your jalapeños, and broil half in the oven, reserving the other half.
- Slice the peppers in quarters and then quarter inch slices, set aside.
- Slice the radishes in rounds and set aside.
- Peel and slice the carrots in rounds or sticks and set aside. (I like thin sticks)
- Half the red onion and slice thinly.
- Chop the tops off the green onions/scallions and cut off the whites. Reserve the whites for the paste and chop the greens in one inch sections.
- Roughly chop the apple so the blender can handle it.
- Chop the Ginger a bit and combine with the apple, scallion whites, smoked paprika and 1 Tbsp kosher salt in the blender with the water and coconut aminos. Blend until smooth.
- Rinse the cabbage, drain and then add all the ingredients to the large bowl and toss together.
- Carefully scoop the mixture into the sanitized jars and beat down with a wooden spoon or french rolling pin until you have at least 2″ space at the top. There is an actual tool for this but as I try my best to be minimalist I use what I have. Now don’t freak out! You don’t need brine for this one as it ferments better in it’s own juices and the salt. Really. Set the fermenting weights or a ziplock full of water (sealed) and close the lid.
- Leave for a week or so. Enjoy with EVERYTHING.