Kimchi de Provence

Kimchi de Provence

1 head Chinese (Nappa) Cabbage--you can use European cabbage but it's just not the same
4 tbsp Kosher salt--PLEASE use Kosher!
1 tbsp Herbes de Provence
1 bunch green onions, chopped, greens and whites
As many cloves of garlic as you can stand, peeled and chopped well--I use at least six
1 glass gallon jar with lid

Chop the cabbage very roughly, I just cut it right across the cabbage every inch or so. Discard the core. In a big bowl, toss the cabbage, garlic and green onion with the salt and herbes de provence. Pack into the glass jar. Take the end of your rolling pin (assuming you use a big thick dowel like I do) and lightly pound the contents in the jar. Your goal is not to pulverize but to get the cabbage juice flowing. Screw the lid on and leave on your counter at room temperature for 48-72 hours or so. Refrigerate after opening. Delicious!

Notes
This is a "white" kimchi, without red pepper. It's not hot at all, but it has the benefits of fermented cabbage, which are numerous, and garlic. To make more traditional kimchi, take the above recipe, add a nob of ginger peeled and chopped fine, leave out the herbes de provence, and add at least a tablespoon of red pepper flakes. You can add any vegetables you'd like to this, but I suggest staying away from broccoli, except maybe the stems. Kimchi is very versatile, you can add or leave out garlic, ginger and/or red pepper and many different flavorings. I do suggest for health reasons you have nappa cabbage as your base and add or subtract other things to it for different tastes.

It will last in your fridge for several weeks, and in fact will "ripen" and improve in flavor as it sits.

Lynn S.
(11/26/06)

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Kimchi de Provence

Kimchi de Provence

1 head Chinese (Nappa) Cabbage--you can use European cabbage but it's just not the same
4 tbsp Kosher salt--PLEASE use Kosher!
1 tbsp Herbes de Provence
1 bunch green onions, chopped, greens and whites
As many cloves of garlic as you can stand, peeled and chopped well--I use at least six

1 glass gallon jar with lid

Chop the cabbage very roughly--I just cut it right across the cabbage every inch or so. Discard the core.

In a big bowl, toss the cabbage, garlic and green onion with the salt and herbes de provence.

Pack into the glass jar. Take the end of your rolling pin (assuming you use a big thick dowel like I do) and lightly pound the contents in the jar. Your goal is not to pulverize but to get the cabbage juice flowing. Screw the lid on and leave on your counter at room temperature for 48-72 hours or so.

Refrigerate after opening. Delicious!

Notes
This is a "white" kimchi, without red pepper. It's not hot at all, but it has the benefits of fermented cabbage, which are numerous, and garlic.

To make more traditional kimchi, take the above recipe, add a nob of ginger peeled and chopped fine, leave out the herbes de provence, and add at least a tablespoon of red pepper flakes. You can add any vegetables you'd like to this, but I suggest staying away from broccoli, except maybe the stems.

Kimchi is very versatile, you can add or leave out garlic, ginger and/or red pepper and many different
flavorings. I do suggest for health reasons you have nappa cabbage as your base and add or subtract other things to it for different tastes.

It will last in your fridge for several weeks, and in fact will "ripen" and improve in flavor as it sits.

Lynn S.
(11/25/06)

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Kimchee

Kimchee

1 small cabbage
    (works best with Chinese cabbage but it's not easy to find in Israel)
3 tbsp + 2 tsp salt
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
1-1/2 tbsp finely chopped garlic
1 tbsp hot red pepper (or more, to taste)
1 tsp sugar

Core the cabbage and cut into 1" pieces. Dissolve the salt in 1-1/2 liters of water. Pour over the cabbage, in a large bowl. There should be enough salt water to cover. If you need more liquid, dissolve 1 tbsp salt in .5 liter water and add. Weight down with a glass plate and a cup. Leave for 12 hours, turning the cabbage occasionally.

Put the ginger, garlic, red pepper, sugar and the 2 tsp of salt in another large bowl. Mix well.

Take the cabbage out of its soaking liquid with a slotted spoon (save the liquid) and put it in the bowl with the seasonings. Mix well.

Put this cabbage mixture into a 2 liter jar or crock. Pour enough salt water over it to cover the cabbage, leaving 1" of empty space at the top of the jar. Cover loosely with a clean cloth and set aside for 3 to 7 days. In the summer, fermentation takes place much faster. Taste the pickle after 3 days to check on the sourness. When it is done to your liking, cover the jar with a non-metallic lid and refrigerate.

To serve, remove about 1/4 cup per person of the kimchee solids. The liquid is left behind in the jar and may be used to flavour stews and soups.

Avital
(5/22/01) 
 
Adapted from Madhur Jaffrey, "Eastern Vegetarian Cooking" (1990).

(Editor note: Kimchee is included in the canning section, being a fermented food, in the preserve-family of techniques.)

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Peach Cordial

Peach Cordial
(general method for any cordial)

I don't have the recipe handy, but here are the basics.

• Peel and slice the peaches.
• Cook them on the stove top with sugar (amount depends on the peaches sweetness) This eliminates the need to add sugar syrup later.
• Put peach mixture into a mason jar and cover with either vodka, white rum or white brandy (other liquors can be tried, these are my favorites)
• Add spices, I use cinnamon and clove and sometimes a vanilla bean.
• Put in a cupboard and shake every day for a month.
• Strain, and taste. It will be rough at this point. Put up as long as you can stand it. After a year (if it lasts that long, I make about 32 quarts at a time, so I have some last the whole year) it will be smooth as silk.

Kim in West Central GA
(7/26/00)

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Pickled Lemons

Pickled Lemons

These usually take 2-4 weeks to make.

It works best with the tiny (walnut-size), thin-skinned lemons that you can find around here but I suppose you could try using regular lemons.

Scrub them well, then cut them into a "flower" (like you're quartering a lemon lengthwise, but leave the four quarters attached at the stem end).

Salt the cut areas. Stick'em in a jar, add some lemon juice to cover and then weight it with something heavy, like a rock or another jar filled with water or a leftover Passover cake. (Just kidding about the last but it would probably work.) The juices should come out of the lemons and cover them. You usually have to add some extra lemon juice at the start because it takes a while for all that juice to come out and you don't want them going moldy at the top.

Then you just leave them on your counter for 2-4 weeks. Refrigerate afterwards.

Avital
(6/12/00)

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Peggy's Kimchee

Peggy's Kimchee

Kimchee is nectar of the gods for those that like spicy foods!

Its a Korean dish, sort of a hot salad dish, fermented cabbage and very easy to make. Can be made with cabbage or cucumbers.

1. Chop up a head of cabbage (or a bunch of cucumbers, if you prefer)
2. Sprinkle liberally with salt (Koreans didn't have refrigeration and salted everything)
3. Sprinkle very liberally with red pepper (my friend who taught me to make this buys red pepper in huge mayonnaise style jars) -- enough to turn the mixture sort of red.
4. You can eat it right away, but its best if you let it sit a few days (in the refrigerator -- food
5. poisoning is too risky!)

Kimchee ferments. Store-bought Kimchee should never be left in a warm car -- the jar will explode and your car will smell like fermented cabbage for weeks. If you drop the jar it will explode. Do not shake the jar (it may explode). Stuff sounds very dangerous, but tastes great!

Peggy in Louisiana
(1/13/00)

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Cabbage Kimchee

Cabbage Kimchee

1 lb chinese cabbage, sliced into 1" sections
3 tbsp + 1 tsp salt
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
2 tbsp finely chopped garlic
2 tbsp cayenne pepper (or real Korean red pepper, if you can get it)
1 tsp sugar

Soak the cabbage in 6 cups of water in which the 3 tbsp salt has been dissolved. Weight it down with something like a glass plate. Leave it for about 12 hours, stirring it around occasionally. Take the cabbage out with a slotted spoon and mix it with the ginger, garlic, pepper and sugar. Stuff it into jars. Cover with the salt water to about 1" below the jar rim and add the extra tsp of salt. (Throw out the salt water that's left over--you'll have a lot).

Put a clean handkerchief or tea-towel over the top of the jar and just let it sit for about a week in winter or maybe 4 days in summer. It'll smell vile but that's part of the fun. Then cover with a non-metallic cap and stick it in your fridge.

The liquid is good to add to soup stock. If you find any dead snails or other once-animal debris, send them to this list.

Oh, almost forgot-- how do you eat it? I like to add a generous quantity to chicken soup before heating it. I stick it on rice and tofu. Also eat it straight out of the jar. *g*

Avital Pinnick
(1/13/00)

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Avital's Cabbage Kimchees (two recipes)

Avital's Cabbage Kimchees (two recipes)

1 lb chinese cabbage, sliced into 1" sections
3 tbsp + 1 tsp salt
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
2 tbsp finely chopped garlic
2 tbsp cayenne pepper (or real Korean red pepper, if you can get it)
1 tsp sugar

Soak the cabbage in 6 cups of water in which the 3 tbsp salt has been dissolved. Weight it down with something like a glass plate. Leave it for about 12 hours, stirring it around occasionally.

Take the cabbage out with a slotted spoon and mix it with the ginger, garlic, pepper and sugar. Stuff it into jars. Cover with the salt water to about 1" below the jar rim and add the extra tsp of salt. (Throw out the salt water that's left over--you'll have a lot).

Put a clean handkerchief or tea towel over the top of the jar and just let it sit for about a week in winter or maybe 4 days in summer. It'll smell vile but that's part of the fun. Then cover with a non-metallic cap and stick it in your fridge.

The liquid is good to add to soup stock. If you find any dead snails or other once-animal debris, send them to this list.

Oh, almost forgot-- how do you eat it? I like to add a generous quantity to chicken soup before heating it. I stick it on rice and tofu. Also eat it straight out of the jar. *g*

Avital
(1/13/00)

---

(Editor's note: The Recipe below is slightly different in how it is made and tweaks in the recipe, I am guessing, being sent to the list years later.)

Kimchee (from Avital)

1 small cabbage (works best with Chinese cabbage but it's not easy to find in Israel)
3 tbsp + 2 tsp salt
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
1-1/2 tbsp finely chopped garlic
1 tbsp hot red pepper (or more, to taste)
1 tsp sugar

Core the cabbage and cut into 1" pieces. Dissolve the salt in 1-1/2 liters of water. Pour over the cabbage, in a large bowl. There should be enough salt water to cover. If you need more liquid, dissolve 1 tbsp salt in .5 liter water and add.

Weight down with a glass plate and a cup. Leave for 12 hours, turning the cabbage occasionally.

Put the ginger, garlic, red pepper, sugar and the 2 tsp of salt in another large bowl. Mix well.

Take the cabbage out of its soaking liquid with a slotted spoon (save the liquid) and put it in the bowl with the seasonings. Mix well.

Put this cabbage mixture into a 2 liter jar or crock. Pour enough salt water over it to cover the cabbage, leaving 1" of empty space at the top of the jar. Cover loosely with a clean cloth and set aside for 3 to 7 days. In the summer, fermentation takes place much faster.

Taste the pickle after 3 days to check on the sourness. When it is done to your liking, cover the jar with a non-metallic lid and refrigerate.

To serve, remove about 1/4 cup per person of the kimchee solids. The liquid is left behind in the jar and may be used to flavour stews and soups.

Adapted from Madhur Jaffrey, "Eastern Vegetarian Cooking" (1990).
 posted by Avital
(5/22/01)

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