It’s a week since I made homemade kimchi from wom bok, radish, and chillis out of the garden, and I’m really impressed with the result. It seems such a dodgy thing to do, to pile vegetables in a bottle and let them ferment of their own accord at room temperature, but it really works.
We had it first night with pork chops, a classic combination. The kimchi cuts the richness of the meat. The second night we were going to have it as an accompaniment to chicken breasts, but ended up just eating from the plate above as a pre-dinner snack.
The kimchi I would buy in Bondi was stronger in many ways; more chilli (much redder), more garlic, more salt, and a fish sauce base, so one of the advantages of making my own is that I can tone those elements I’m not so fond of down to taste and still get the vinegar tang that I’m after. About the only tricky part seems to be getting the amount of salt in the initial brining of the cabbage right so that it carries through to the other vegetables at a nice level. Mine is a little low on salt, but it’s easy to add it before eating.
I’ve got a few wom bok ready to cut, and a lot more on the way, so I think next time (as soon as we have finished this jar, which shouldn’t take long) I will try the more authentic method using a coating sauce made from rice flour porridge.