Making Yogurt (video)

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Making Kimchi (video)

Pickled Rutabagas (video)

How To Make Sauerkraut (video)

An instructional video of me making sauerkraut (expertly filmed and edited by how2heroes!)

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Sauerkraut Is A Powerful Natural Aphrodisiac

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Simple Kimchi Stew

A week or two ago, I was with a friend who ordered Kimchi Stew at a Korean restaurant. I tried some, and it was tasty. This inspired me to do some reverse-engineering.

Without looking around at other people's recipes, here's what I came up with. I aimed for taste rather than strict authenticity. Serve it on its own, or with rice, bean threads, little boiled potatoes, or the starch of your choice. Makes 1 significant serving.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of dashi, fish stock, vegetable stock, or meat stock from animals of known origin
• 1/4 lb of sliced MOKO (pork works well) (I don't believe in eating large amounts of tofu)
  
• a handful of dried shiitake mushroom pieces
  
• a generous teaspoon of miso paste (the kind from a tub, not from an envelope)
  
• a big forkful of cabbage kimchi (make it yourself or buy it)
• a large handful of baby spinach, bok choy, or other greens. If they are tough, boil or steam them some ahead of time; if they are tender, this is unnecessary.
• a scallion or "long onion", sliced thin diagonally, as garnish
  

Directions

1. Put the dried shiitake mushrooms in a small bowl. Barely cover them with boiling water. Let sit for 10 or 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
   
2. Boil the stock in a medium saucepan. Add the tofu or meat and heat thoroughly. Add the mushrooms and their liquid. Remove from heat.
3. Spoon a few spoons of the stock into a small bowl, add the miso to the bowl, and mix it with a spoon until all the miso chunks are broken up. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan.
   
4. Add the kimchi to the saucepan and stir.
   
5. Cut the greens into bite-sized pieces if necessary; add them to the saucepan and stir well.
6. Taste the soup. Adjust the seasoning by adding more kimchi, more miso, some fish sauce or soy sauce, some sesame oil, some sesame seeds, some water if you want, or whatever else you think it needs.
7. Ladle into soup bowls. Garnish with scallions. Provide soup spoons and chopsticks.
   

Notes

• This is an ideal use for old kimchi that has lost its crunch.
  
• My Korean friend thought that the presence of kimchi made fresh greens unnecessary.
• Get non-GMO or organic tofu and miso if you possibly can.
  
• You can find miso paste at Asian markets, and also at some non-specialized supermarkets.
  
• With a little work, you may be able to find local sources for tofu and miso. With a little more work, you can make your own. (Possible career path?)
  

Making Kimchi

My kimchi recipe of choice is adapted from a recipe on Epicurious, which is in turn adapted from a recipe in the book Dok Suni: Recipes From My Mother's Korean Kitchen.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup coarse sea salt (or kosher salt)
  
• 2 cups chlorine-free water
  
• 4 lbs of vegetables: mostly Napa cabbage, plus any combination of mustard greens, bok choy, daikon, burdock root, and whatever other vegetables catch your fancy
• 1 head garlic
• 2 or 3 good-sized onions
• some more chlorine-free water
  
• 1 inch ginger root, peeled (a spoon works well for peeling ginger)
  
• 1 cup red pepper powder, available at Korean and other Asian grocery stores
  
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 small bunch scallions

Directions

1. In a big bowl, dissolve 3/4 cup salt in 2 cups of water to make a brine.
   
2. Cut up all of the 4 lbs of vegetables. Cut leafy vegetables into 1" square pieces. Peel root vegetables and cut them into thin diagonal slices. Slice and include as much of the cabbage core as you like.
   
3. Put the chopped vegetables into the brine and mix. Hands are an excellent tool for this. Leave the vegetables in the brine for 4-6 hours. Cover it to keep it free of foreign objects. Uncover it and stir it up every once in a while.
4. Drain the vegetables pretty thoroughly in a colander.
   
5. Peel the onions and garlic, and mince the ginger.
   
6. Blend the onion, garlic, and ginger in a food processor with as much water as is necessary to form a smooth paste.
7. Mix the red pepper flakes and sugar into the paste.
   
8. Cut the scallions diagonally into 1" lengths, and add them to the paste. Then let the paste sit for 10 minutes.
9. Move the chopped vegetables from the colander into a large bowl. Add the seasoning paste. Mix it up well with a wooden spoon, your hands, or whatever falls readily to hand.
   
10. Pack your kimchi tightly into Mason jars. Close the jars loosely. Leave the jars on the counter at room temperature for as long as you dare, but at least 1 day. Open them every day or two to check their progress. (Or, optionally, seal the jars in plastic bags and bury them in your back yard.)
    
11. Taste your kimchi periodically. When you think it's "done", close the jars more tightly and put them in the fridge. (Or bury them in the ground, or keep them in a cool root cellar.)

Kimchi Recipe Concepts

• New England Kimchi Canapés (bite-sized cracker, cheddar cheese, apple, kimchi)
• Kimchi Reuben Sandwich (rye bread, corned beef of known origin, kimchi, mayo, optional wasabi)
• Baked Potato with Sour Cream and Kimchi
• Kimchi Scramble (scrambled eggs, kimchi, sprouted grain toast with grass-fed butter)
• Kimchi Stir-Fry (animal or tofu, animal fat or coconut oil, kimchi, other vegetables if desired)
• Kimchi Fried Rice (similar to stir-fry, but with brown rice and scrambled egg)
  
• Kimchi Buckwheat Pancakes (savory pancake recipe + kimchi)
• Kimchi Nachos