the Older Bolder Life Vegetable Wednesday 25 July: Versatile Vegetable Kimchi

Recognizing that it’s supposed to be hot during the dog days of high summer, the past few weeks here (just north of the DFW metroplex) have been scorching – 112 on the hottest day in our little neighborhood.

We find ourselves reach more and more for something crisp and cool to accompany proteins for dinner, and while slaws and salads are on the menu often, we sometimes get a hankering for something with a bit more flavor and acidity.

We’d played with making traditional kimchi in years past, though had our eyes opened to pushing the kimchi boundaries a bit after fighting over the last bit of collard green kimchi on a butter bean hummus plate at Ida Claire in Dallas a couple of years ago (served with a great array of vegetables by the way).

At one point I reached out to chef friend Libby in Austin to pick her brain about kimchi, and she suggested we try her quick Versatile Vegetable Kimchi recipe below. She noted that she makes it with what ever vegetables look good and are handy, including cucumbers, carrots, radishes, beets, and even turnips.

She offered up a few key pieces of additional advice as well, including a reminder that the recipe is best considered to be a framework to start from– e.g. if you like more ginger, put it in, and that if you’re going to age it longer than a few days, it’s probably best not to use the darkest green parts of your scallions as they tend to get a bit slimy the longer they sit in the pot or jar. She serves it within a few days of stirring a batch together at catering events, as the taste is milder; the longer you let it sit in the fridge, the taste gets a bit more “funky” as fermentation works its magic.

2 lb cucumbers, ends trimmed, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
3 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar

10 scallions, cut on diagonal into 1 inch pieces, use the white and pale green sections
1/3 cup (or more) gochugaru (Korean red chile flakes, coarse) OR
1.5 tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes, ground
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
1 tablespoons fish sauce

Veg options: radishes, carrots, beets, turnips, string beans, asparagus

Toss your prepped vegetable of choice, the salt, and sugar in a large bowl; now let it sit (covered with a clean towel) at room temperature for 2-3 hours to begin to pull some water out of the vegetables.

Add the remainder of the ingredients, stirring to mix well and make sure everything is coated.

Spoon into clean quart jars, making sure to divide the liquid equally among the jars, leaving about an inch of headspace. Cover loosely and leave on the counter (out of direct sunlight) for up to two days to begin the magic of fermentation. YOU CAN of course start eating on a jar right away, seems like we always do…

Once you’re happy with evidence of fermentation, throw in the fridge, where the flavors will deepen and mature over the next week as fermentation slowly moves onward. Supposedly this will keep for up to two months in the fridge; we can’t ever make it that long (they only last about a week or so in our kitchen).

Enjoy.