A very basic Kimchi

1. Wash all your veg. (No need to peel anything!) Chop off the bottom of your cabbage and wash the leaves, then towel dry them. Take your big bowl and generously salt your cabbage leaves, making sure they are all covered. Leave to rest for 2-3 hours, ideally turning around the leaves half way through. You will notice them losing a lot of water, and the leaves becoming a lot smaller
2. Whilst your cabbage is resting, prep the rest of the veg and add them to a separate bowl - how you prepare them is really up to you, I like to julienne the carrots or just use a peeler to create really thin but long pieces. The radish and daikon I usually just grate in large pieces, then slice the spring onion lengthways into thin strips. If you are adding the apple or pear I would grate that quite finely.
3. In a food processor (or use pestle and mortar) blend ginger, garlic & chili until well combined, set aside. You can always add a tiny bit of water to help you.
4. Once your cabbage is done, wash off the salt, towel dry the cabbage again and use roughly half your paste to massage it into the cabbage leaves.
5. Take the rest of the mixture and mix it into the veg. Now combine the two bowls, massage your mix for a minute or so, cover it with a tea towel and let it sit for an hour.
6. Taste it and adjust seasoning. remember that flavours might become stronger as the fermentation process takes places, so go easy on salt & co. Once happy with the flavour, transfer your Kimchi to jars. Make sure your veg are covered in brine (you will be surprised at how much liquid will be in your bowl), this will prevent them from going off! When packing your jars, make sure there is space on top, I would say around two fingers (Otherwise you might have Kimchi brine leaking all over)
7. Cover jars with a lid but without closing it too tightly. Leave your jars on the counter for 2-4 days, and taste occasionally. When opening the jars you might see bubbles forming at the top. That is totally normal. Just make sure you keep submerging your veg in the liquid when checking your jars and loosely close them up again. Once the flavour is to your liking, add the Kimchi to your fridge and enjoy whenever.

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This will keep in the fridge for several months, although personally my batches never survived that long - add this on top of soups, salads, sandwiches, any sorta rice dishes, your stir fries - remember this is something you will want to eat on a regular basis but in small quantities.

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