Last week, I went over to the my friend Denise’s home for a mid-afternoon snack and chat. Little did I know how awesome an afternoon it was going to be, full of fermented foods. We ate a number of kimchis, had some pancakes made with kimchi, and enjoyed a fermented soda. She did a great job making the fermented products, and got me all excited again about making ferments.
The first kimchi I tasted was a water kimchi. This is a lesser-known kimchi in the US (I’m really familiar with the cabbage kimchi), and is very light. She made it with primarily some kind of leafy green.
Next was a kimchi made from butternut squash. The squash was not cooked beforehand, but you’d never know it – the squash was soft but not without substance. It was a little sweet, a little savory. Really wonderful!
The final kimchi I tasted was the kind I’m used to – cabbage kimchi with ginger, garlic, hot peppers, etc, though not made with napa cabbage. It was very good. We used some of the juice in the mung bean pancakes.
Then I tasted a bit of this corn salsa she made back in the late summer. Wowza, it was delicious! I am going to make this next year.
The pancakes, called bindaetteok, are made with sprouted mung beans, kimchi, and kimchi liquid, along with some other flavorings. Even before I tried them, I knew I’d like them, because I love kimchi and the idea of it in pancakes just made me really excited. The recipe used comes from a book called The Kimchi Chronicles, which appears to have been a TV series, too. Here is the batter before the kimchi is added – it’s sort of a loose paste and smelled wonderful, with a bean earthiness to it.
We actually had a higher amount of beans to kimchi, so they came out more green than that kimchi red color. They were amazing, and I will make them at home myself soon. I love that the mung beans are sprouted (not specified in the recipe, but that’s ok), which makes them easier to digest and full of extra vitamin C, among other nutrients. We at them with a dipping sauce that consisted of soy sauce, scallions, and sesame oil.
We washed everything down with a naturally fermented hibiscus rose soda, which went really well with the food.
I’m really excited about getting back into fermenting foods. I have some kefir grains, plan to do rice bran pickles (nuka bran ferment), will make whey soda, more kimchi, yogurt, and more. I also made a deal with myself that I’d eat at least a spoonful of fermented food each day. I think I’m in for some seriously tasty treats. Thank you so much, Denise, for a fun and delicious afternoon!
