Using cooked vegetables for kimchi
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- This topic has 2 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 3 months ago by Dan.
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- October 27, 2014 at 2:52 pm #57520kuninyoParticipant
Can one use cooked vegetables, like brussel sprouts which are very hard uncooked, to make kimchi? Do all the veggies have to be raw?
- November 4, 2014 at 12:09 am #57617UltimaKimBap25Participant
Brussel sprouts are hard, so try steaming them for 5 minutes under “near boiling” water.
- December 7, 2014 at 8:38 am #57957DanParticipant
By cooking the vegetables, you are killing the lactobacillus bacteria that are responsible for fermentation, so you will get no fermentation unless you re-introduce the bacteria with other raw vegetables as part of the dish, or by inoculating it with already-fermented food, which is probably safer (and more tasty!).
Remember, the salting and the fermentation process will soften the food. If it’s super-hard and you absolutely must steam-soften it first, then I would suggest that you only cook it part way, make sure you add plenty of raw vegetable ingredients to the ferment, and if possible, add a tablespoon or so of food that has already been fermented (like some kimchi, dongchimi, or some dongchimi brine, etc.) This will inoculate the ferment with the good-guy bacteria that you need. Also, I would let the steamed vegetable come completely down to room temperature before you assemble it and put it down to ferment. Good luck!
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