Not quite Kimchi

Last Saturday I bought a wombok cabbage from Racheal which was picked from their Birdsong Market Garden and I remembered a tutorial Rhonda had on her blog where her daughter-in-law Sunny was using one of these cabbages to make 'Authentic Kimchi'. Sunny is Korean and she really knows how to make kimchi so I thought I would give it a go. I did read a few other blog posts about the process but in the end I was getting confused as everyone seems to make it differently and sometimes I find it is better to just stick to one recipe and tutorial.

 

Someone told me that a whole wombok would make a fair bit of kimchi so I didn't use the whole cabbage.

Some tutorials I read said to tear the leaves, others said to cut it this way or that way...

 

...so I just sliced it up like this.

 

Then the salt was rubbed in, water added and a plate put on top and I left it for six hours or so. I didn't add chilli flakes as I don't like things too hot so mine doesn't have the usual red colour although I did add some paprika which had been suggested. I also cut up one Bishop's Cap chilli which isn't hot just to give it a little colour plus some julienned carrots. I wasn't going to, as I hated the thought of it, but ended up adding some fish sauce as Sunny had done in hers. Mine ended up looking a lot more floury than hers did and next time I make it I might leave out the flour.  I wonder if you can buy mild chilli powder as that would make the kimchi more of a red colour I would imagine. 

Anyway it may not have looked too good but it smelt and tasted okay so now it is fermenting on the bench for a few days before it goes into the fridge. If you would like to make some check out how Sunny makes it in the tutorial Making Kimchi with Sunny. Next time I make it I might try Homemade Fermented Spicy Kimchi as it looks fairly simple but will replace the Korean red pepper powder gochugaru with a milder version if I can find one. Does anyone have any suggestions?

The sourdough experimentation is still going on :-) The two loaves on the left were based on Gina's Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread recipe with the addition of pepitas and sunflower seeds. The one on the right is based on Chris' recipe in 'The' Sourdough Tutorial.

I was testing out my Lame on these loaves but I found it hard to slash the wholemeal ones as I have noticed that when the dough for these soft crusted loaves has risen the second time then the Lame just drags the dough instead of slashing it unlike the loaves with a harder crust made using Chris's method.

Source: How to Make Sourdough

You can tell that I got a bit carried away with the one on the right as I was trying to cut it like the New York Style Rye Sourdough in the book How to Make Sourdough that I borrowed from the library. Hmmm, it didn't exactly turn out like that loaf :-) More practice needed I think.

Our Simple Living Toowoomba decluttering workshop last Saturday was really good and well attended and next month on the 17th June we move to our new venue at the Range Christian Fellowship in Blake Street for our Permaculture workshop with Michael Wardle which I am really looking forward to. This should be a really popular workshop so don't forget to book in if you plan to come along.

Have a great week everyone!