Recipe: how to prepare kimchi at home? Kimchi has excellent health benefits

Although the preparation of this popular mixture seems complicated, it is not. It is a simple and easy recipe.

Kimchi can be eaten on its own, as a side dish, or as part of a variety of dishes or soups.

It is a traditional Korean national dish with a long history. The first written references to kimchi date back to BC.

It is believed that the first composition consisted of fresh vegetables. Only after hundreds of years did it evolve into its present form with its typical taste and colour.

Kimchi can be prepared from a variety of ingredients, types of vegetables.

The vegetables used are seasonal in nature. Therefore, we should use home-grown and fresh ingredients that are not artificially grown. But of course, we can also use commonly available fresh pieces.

Kimchi is proven to be one of the healthiest foods in the world. This is mainly due to its composition, which is full of vitamins and beneficial substances from vegetables.

Fermenting vegetables may seem dubious, but it is an exceptional process that enriches the ingredients with probiotic bacteria.

These contribute to good digestion and help us avoid intestinal problems.

This method also produces microbes that rid the colon of toxic substances that cause ageing. As a result, they help our bodies stay young.

Apart from the beneficial probiotics, kimchi is also full of vitamins and minerals.

These definitely include manganese, selenium, calcium, iron, fiber, protein, and from vitamins A, B, C or K.

Thanks to its composition, it also protects our body from diarrhea, eczema.

It helps to relieve the symptoms of Crohn's disease, irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, urinary tract infections or vaginal infections.

Cabbage, radishes, cucumbers, onions, garlic, ginger and spices such as chilli, sugar, salt and fish sauce are most commonly used to make kimchi.

In our recipe we will use Beijing cabbage, spring onions, classic onions, cucumber, white radishes and the mixture for the sauce will be garlic, ginger, honey, fish sauce, salt and chilli flakes.

We will use fish sauce in the recipe, so it is not suitable for vegetarians. It can be replaced with soy sauce so that vegetarians can taste it too, so let's go for it.

Ingredients for kimchi

• 1 piece of Peking cabbage
• 1 bunch of spring onions
• 1 onion
• 1 piece of cucumber
• 1-2 pieces of white radish
• 4 cloves of garlic
• fresh ginger (medium)
• honey
• fish sauce
• salt
• chilli flakes

Preparation procedure

1. Clean and wash the cabbage. Cut it in half and salt it thoroughly.

The salted cabbage can be left to stand for up to 12 hours. However, be sure to rinse the cabbage thoroughly afterwards to remove the salt.

2. Meanwhile, prepare a mixture of crushed garlic, grated ginger, honey, sauce, salt and chilli.

3. You can add chopped onions, radishes and even spring onions to the cabbage.

4. Mix the paste mixture with the vegetables and mix well.

5. Add to the mixture also the cucumbers, de-seeded and quartered, which you have previously left to soak in lukewarm water with salt for about 45 minutes.

It is best to put the cucumbers to the rims of the jar and fill the centre of the jar with the mixture.

6. Fill sealable jars or bowls with the mixture and leave them at room temperature for up to two days.

Some recipes also recommend pouring a brine of water, salt and apple cider vinegar over the kimchi and cucumbers, but this is not necessary.

7. It is important that the jars are properly sealed and that good fermentation takes place. Kimchi prepared in this way will keep for up to a month in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

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