Recipe shared by Vaso Makri
Ingredients:
- 1kg cabbages & carrots washed and chopped/shredded (you could also include radish or daikon)
- 5 spring onions sliced
- 4 large garlic cloves
- 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
- Gokucharu powder to taste or fresh red chilli
- 1 tablespoon rice flour
- 1 Apple
- Rock salt (1 tbsp/litre of water)
- Sugar (optional, 3/4 tbsp)
- Unchlorinated water
Instructions:
- Chop the cabbages, cut the carrots into matchsticks, cube the radish, chop the spring onions, shred the apple.
- In a pestle and mortar, smash the garlic and ginger until they are a paste, add the chilli (in the powder or fresh) apple, sugar, salt, rice flour, and a bit of room temperature water.
- Mix the vegetables and sliced onions with the ginger paste and pack into a jar.
- Keep in a dark place until the acidity is right for you and then transfer to the fridge.
What is Lacto-Fermentation?Lacto-fermentation is a specific type of fermentation that uses lactic-acid-producing bacteria to preserve foods. Lacto-fermentation produces dill pickles, sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, yoghurt, kvass and many other ferments.
Lacto-fermentation uses:- a simple brine of (non-chlorinated) water and non-iodised salt ( i.e. rock salt, like Pink Himalayan salt)anaerobic conditions (i.e. no oxygen, vegetables need to be submerged in the brine). Why fermentation?Kimchi and other fermented food can help us out during the season known as the Hungry Gap in spring and during early summer, when local produce is still in short supply. Until we come to the more abundant summer months, it can enrich dishes in taste, adding variety and nutritional value.Fermentation enhances nutrient bio-availability and can detoxify certain foods, allowing the consumer to absorb nutrients better and consume foods that might otherwise be toxic.
Want to learn how to make kimchi and other lacto-ferments?
Please get in touch to be notified about lacto-fermentation workshops with FoodFutures.
Contact Silvia Rossi, Closing Loops Food and Chef Network Coordinator: silvia_globallink.org.uk
Download the recipe card [pdf]
