Gifts from my Kitchen - White Kimchi for Hive Top Chef

To be absolutely frank, I was going to give this week's Qurator's: Hive Top Chef! | Kimchi a miss, as I could not find any in our local stores, but I'm always up for a challenge, so decided to make my own.

A week ago, I started a series called Gifts from my Kitchen^{Gifts from my Heart.}
A bottle of Kimchi would also make the perfect gift for a friend.

I'm not a big fan of fermented foods, despite their health benefits. Traditional Kimchi looked way too spicy for me and my IBS. However, when I did a bit more research, I learnt that Kimchi, in fact, reduces the symptoms of IBS!

I wanted to make a plant-based version and found a couple of recipes for White Kimchi.

Don't be fooled by its looks, it may look very bland, but garlic, ginger, green chili sauce, and distilled rice vinegar make a power-packed Kimchi paste!

Ingredients:

No cooking is required, but much slicing, shredding, crushing, and grating.
Sounds hectic, but it was a load of fun, especially with Cynthia spurring me on and making me smile for the required photo.
I love raw cabbage and carrots, so there was quite a bit of crunching going on in my mouth as well;)

This recipe was adapted from one I found on a local fresh produce market's website.

White Kimchi à La Lizzie

Half Cabbage - sliced
15ml Pink Himalaya Salt
3 Garlic Cloves - crushed
Ginger root - grated (approx 30ml)
30ml Green Chili Sauce
45ml Distilled & Rice Vinegar
15ml Brown Sugar
7 Radishes - grated
4 medium-small Carrots - cut into julienne strips (or grate)
3 large Spring Onions - shredded
3 Cayenne Peppers

Place cabbage in a large bowl, add salt and mix.
Leave to stand for an hour, rinse under water, and squeeze out excess water.
This step is vital as it removes some of the moisture and softens the cabbage. It also aids the fermentation process.

Make the Kimchi paste while the cabbage is soaking.

Mix Garlic, Ginger, Chili Sauce, Sugar, and Rice Vinegar into a deliciously, flavourful paste.

Shred, grate, and julienne the vegetables

Carrots were flying everywhere - I did not want to slice my fingers in the process - that happened once before!

Place vegetables into a large bowl, add Kimchi paste, and mix to coat.

Add cured cabbage, and mix again to coat all vegetables.

Pack into sterilized glass bottles, seal, and leave at room temperature overnight. Store in refrigerator. The flavour improves with the fermentation process.

A very different very white Kimchi, hot, fragrant, and sweet-sour at this stage.

I kept some aside to have fresh with Fried Rice for a Meatless Monday dinner - it was yum!

Ingredients for Fried Rice

Recipe

Quantities are approximate

250ml Basmati Rice - cook according to package instructions
50ml Oil
Half Onion
Handful of Green beans
200 gram Mushrooms, diced
Small bunch of Spring Onions, diced
150ml frozen Sweetcorn
Cayenne Chillies
Paprika
Coriander (Dhania) leaves
Handful of roasted Cashew Nuts

Sautee onions till they start to caramelize
Add beans and mushrooms, and stir-fry

Move ingredients to the side of the pan, add a little extra oil, add rice, and stir-fry till some of the rice gets a bit of a 'nutty crust.'

Add sweetcorn, mix, season to taste, and continue stir-frying.

Pile onto a serving plate, sprinkle with coriander leaves and cashew nuts, and top with Kimchi.

This fairly large bottle will sit in the refrigerator to allow it to ferment.

Thank you Hive account@qurator for introducing me to Kimchi, although it's not the usual one you see on the shelves! I will be making another bigger batch of White Kimchi to give away as gifts and keep one or two for myself.