Kimchi

500 grams Chinese cabbage, sliced in large pieces

50 gram carrots, cut in matchsticks

50 gram daikon or radish, cut in matchsticks 

50 gram red onion, sliced in thin half moons (quickly blanch in boiling water if desired to remove the sharp taste)

15 grams sea salt (2% of the vegetable volume)

5 gram chili, dried or fresh–optional

15 gram grated ginger

10 gram grated garlic

2 tablespoons concentrated apple juice if desired

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Mix all the ingredients together, kneading with your hands to express the liquid. Place in a salad press or a bucket/bowl with a plate topped with a weight to press the vegetables. Leave for 3 days at room temperature in the press. The water will rise above the vegetables. Then refrigerate and enjoy.

Pickled Tofu in Miso

1 block of firm tofu

250 grams barley (“mugi”) miso, or rice miso 

1 Tablespoon ginger juice

Basil or other herbs according to taste–optional

Wrap the tofu in a dishcloth. 

Add light pressure on it to express its water

Mix the miso with the ginger and optional flavors.

Slice the tofu in half lengthwise so it opens like a book.

Cover the top of one slab of tofu with the miso paste and turn it over onto a plate, miso-side down.

Continue to cover well all the surfaces of the tofu with the miso paste and stack them on top of one another, covering the middle, sides and top.

Let the tofu sit at room temperature for 1-2 days of fermentation and it’s ready.

To serve, scrape the miso off the portion of tofu that you will eat and recover the exposed areas. You may keep any remaining miso for other uses.

Pickled Onions in Shoyu 

1-2 onions

1 part of shoyu (soy sauce)

4 parts water

1 cabbage leaf, whole

Slice the onion/s into rings. If you don’t enjoy the sharp taste of raw onion, quickly blanch them in boiling water, immersing and removing them within seconds.

Separate the rings and fill a jar with them, pressing in as many as possible. 

Cover the onions with a cabbage leaf at the top of the jar, or otherwise ensure that the onions are not exposed to air.

Add the shoyu-water mixture to cover the onions and cabbage.

Place the open jar on a plate to catch liquid that will be naturally expressed in the fermentation process. This liquid can be put back or used in a dressing. 

Let the open jar of onions sit for 3 to 5 days at room temperature. After that close the jar, opening it each day over 5 days for just 2 or 3 seconds to let out gas.

Close and refrigerate for 10 more days and they will be ready to eat.

Special note from Aunt Tianne: Do not overeat pickles! 2–3 tablespoons a day according to your appetite is plenty.🥄 Eet smakelijk! Bon appetit!