Recipes

I have spent this morning preparing cabbage to make some Kimchii, its a Korean fermented dish that has many health benefits and the Koreans eat it at every meal, they even have a Kimchii museum and there are about 150 recipes although most families have their own... this is my recipe

Kimchii Recipe

1 long Chinese cabbage

½ cup course salt

1 teaspoon sugar

2 ½ teaspoons chile powder

1 daikon  { Japanese white radish } cut into 1 ¾ inch julienne strips

3 scallions cut into 1 ¾ inch julienne strips

4 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 ¾ inch piece of ginger finely chopped

1 tablespoon of salted anchovies finely chopped

• Trim the root end off the cabbage, but do not separate the leaves. Put about 1/3 cup of the salt into a large bowl, and add 4 cups of water. Stir to dissolve the salt. Add the cabbage to the bowl, bending it so that it fits and is submerged. Add a little extra water if necessary so that the cabbage is covered. Place a plate over the top and weigh it down so that the cabbage is covered in the salty water. Leave at room temperature for twelve hours or until the cabbage has softened.
• Mix the sugar with the chile powder and remaining salt. Combine the daikon, scallion, garlic, ginger and anchovy. Sterilize a large bell jar or something similar in boiling water. Drain the cabbage and rinse under cold running water. Squeeze the cabbage dry of excess water. Put the cabbage in a bowl, and gently separate the leaves, pushing spoonfuls of the spicy daikon mixture between each leaf to fill the gaps. Press the filled cabbage into the bell jar, pushing down to remove any pockets of air, then seal the jar tightly.
• The jar of Kimchii now needs to be left out of the refrigerator in a warm place about 25°C for about 24 hours to allow it time to ferment although if it isn’t warm enough it will take longer. At the end of this time, Transfer to the refrigerator and use as required. This spicy fermented condiment is chopped before serving and eaten cold. Serve with anything it goes well with eggs foe breakfast, in soups and with meat or vegetarian meals... Enjoy!

My partner Ian and I went for a Japanese meal recently and I had a dish of miso and teriyaki salmon with a little pool of Kimchii floating in it and it was one of the nicest meals I have ever eaten.

I have also heard that papaya seeds when dried out and ground down are a good substitute for pepper so I have some drying and will let you know how they taste as soon as they are ready. (a bit later...) I've tried the dried papaya seeds and I wouldn't recommend them, they taste like wee...

Wild Garlic Pesto

1 large bunch of wild garlic, washed

1 small bunch of curly leafed parsley, washed

60gms toasted pine nuts

60gms parmesan cheese

150mls olive oil half normal half extra virgin

Squeeze of lemon juice

Salt and pepper

• Apart from the olive oil place all ingredients into a food processor and blitz for a minute or two, Slowly add the olive oil until well blended and enjoy...