Brussels Sprout Kimchi
Brussels sprout kimchi! Has she gone mad? Absolutely not – they’re just mini cabbages, after all. This makes one of my favourite ever kimchis and of course, it’s fiercely seasonal. I cannot emphasise enough just how well this works in a toastie with Stilton, and also the day after in a toastie with Cheddar and ham. Imagine putting it in your Christmas leftovers sandwiches! It’s perfect in the morning with eggs as well.
Basically what I’m saying is that no one should be without this kimchi during the festive season and if you make it now you’ll have a massive jar to see you right through until January.
Give the gift of sprout-chi to your gut microbiome this Christmas!
Brussels Sprout Kimchi Recipe
This isn’t a particularly spicy kimchi so adjust to your taste. I like to eat my toasties with sriracha so we kept this quite mild. It’s tangy and fizzing with all your usual brilliant kimchi flavours and the sprouts have a lovely lemony edge to them.
1kg brussels sprouts, sliced (I did this in a food processor)
1 daikon, cut into strips or sliced (I did mine in julienne)
1 Chinese cabbage, sliced
2 heads garlic, cloves peeled
1/2 cup Korean chilli flakes (you can literally just measure this in a mug)
2 inches ginger, peeled
3 tablespoons white miso
Place the shredded sprouts, daikon and Chinese cabbage in a bowl with a good handful of fine salt and mix well – don’t worry about the quantity because you’ll rinse a lot of it off afterwards. Squeeze it with your hands until some juice forms, then top it up with enough water to cover it. Weight it down with something heavy-ish like a sturdy pan. Cover and leave overnight.
Sterilise a 2 litre Kilner jar.
Blend the garlic, ginger, miso and chilli in a blender.
Rinse the veg then mix with the garlic paste and pack into the jar, pressing it down firmly with your fist. I cover my ferments with a zip lock bag filled with water because it moulds to the shape of the ingredients and jar nicely, making sure it’s all submerged – a small dish or ramekin would be a non-plastic alternative.
Leave to ferment at least 4 days before tasting but make sure you open the jar to burp it once a day.
I made mine around 10 days ago and I am keeping it at room temp but burping every day. It will keep actively fermenting at this temperature and the flavour will develop, so it’s up to you when you’d like to stop that process. When you do, just transfer it to the fridge where you won’t need to keep burping it.