KIMCHI NATURAL PROBIOTIC HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN

This wonderful spicy, sour and salty Korean side dish is a super food, small amounts are eaten every day by South Asians for it's natural probiotic properties, incorporating a spoonful of this a day in your diet will boost your gut health along with vitamin A, B, C, loaded with healthy bacteria Lactobacilli the good bacteria which helps with digestion and seems to stop and even prevent yeast Candida infections, anti carcinogenic, high in fibre and low fat, this is a winner dish for supporting your overall health.  

Ingredients

(makes two small /one large kilner jars)

1 Chinese cabbage (any will do)

1 cup of sea salt

1 ltr still spring water

1 tbsp grated garlic

1 tsp grated ginger

1 tsp sugar

2-3 tbsp fish sauce

1-5 tbsp dried chilli flakes (gochgaru)

225g daikon radish grated

4 scallions chopped

In a large bowl pour in the spring water and add half the sea salt, leaving the stem in cut the cabbage into quarters and place in the salt water for around one hour.  Meanwhile to make the rub in a bowl mix the garlic, ginger, fish sauce, sugar chilli flakes and scallions together.  Drain the cabbage, take the sea salt and sprinkle in between each leaf of the cabbage quarters then repeat this process with the chilli mixture getting a good coverage in between all the leaves, mix in the daikon radish and place in your clean dry kilner jars and seal. 

Leave your jars on the side for two days to start the fermentation process and getting the good bacteria breeding giving off bubbling gases, there is a possibility of your jar exploding under pressure, but if you are eating this regularly this should not happen as you are ineffect releasing the gases each time you open the jar, what to watch would be a jar you have not opened in a while, approach with caution!   Many Koreans make a years worth of Kimchi at a time and keep a separate Kimchi fridge, in times gone by Koreans used to keep their kimchi in a pit under the house.

If you are worried about bacteria, garlic and chilli have preservative properties and Kimchi improves with age and will not detoriate.