Thursday, December 19, 2013

Kale Kimchee


Kale is the new black.

I decided to make a kale kimchee recently, kale has become extremely popular everywhere and I thought why not.
The recipe is just like making a regular cabbage kimchee except that kale does not need to be salted.
It also takes much longer to ferment.  Kale is a very dense and dry green a lot like collard greens.
Few pointers.
* Roughly chop kale in to bite size.
* Remove the vein.

Recipe.

Ingredients
1 bunch of kale.  Roughly chopped and stem and large vein removed.
1/2 Daikon radish. Julienned
1 bunch of chopped green onions. 

Kimchee paste
1 whole garlic peeled and roughly chopped
2 inch piece of ginger peeled and roughly chopped.
Korean pepper flakes. 1 cup. depending on hot spicy you like it.
1 large Korean pear or 1 pear and 1 apple peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 onion roughly chopped.
1/4 cup of sugar
*2 tbsp cup of fish sauce (preferably 3 Crabs brand)  If not using fermented shrimp use 3 tbsp.
*3 tbsp of fermented shrimp.  (optional, they are hard to find, only sold in Asian markets)



Add all the ingredients and puree them in blender or food processor till it
becomes and paste. Should be slightly watery paste. Taste. It should taste like good kimchee.
Add the julienned radish and chopped green onions and kale.

Here is the important part. Use you hands. ( I wear rubber gloves)

I put the kale kimchee inside plastic bag then in the a large container.  It can make the container smell and the smell is hard to get rid of.
Leave it on kitchen counter for 1 week
Refrigerate for 2 week.
It should be ready to eat once it is refrigerated.
Gets better as it ages.