Sauerkraut & Kimchi – Fabulous Ferments for you Tummy!

I love Sauerkraut! It reminds me of such good times working as a croupier on Carnival Cruise Lines through the Bahamas. I loved it so much I would sneak up to the top deck, past the ice sculpture demonstration, where all the holiday makers were (and staff weren’t actually allowed) to get a big plate of warm, spicy sauerkraut (as usual I was a bit weird and never got the actual hotdog it was supposed to be sprinkled on top of).

Sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha and other fermented foods has now become popular because of its known health benefits. Sauerkraut is fermented cabbage. Cabbage is rich in vitamins but more importantly the fermentation converts sugar in the cabbage into healthy bacteria strains (probiotics) which replenish the beneficial flora in your digestive tract,  boosting your immune system and assisting digestion (read more  >>here<<.)

Sauerkraut

I can’t believe how easy it is to make this with the Thermomix (you can easily use this recipe without TM though)

Ingredients

• 1000 grams cabbage
• 1 tablespoon Himalayan salt
• 3 fresh bay leaves
• 10 whole peppercorns (I like it spicy)

Preparation

1. Chop the cabbage into quarters
2. Put half the cabbage & half the salt into the TM bowl & chop for about 5 – 10 seconds at speed 4 depending on how chopped you like it
3. Place into a container & repeat with the other half
4. Add the first batch of the cabbage back to the TM bowl with the peppercorns & stir for 8 mins speed 2. This will bring out heaps of moisture from the cabbage.
5. Mix through the bay leaves
6. Squash mixture into sterilised jars, it should have liquid covering the cabbage completely.
7. Place the lid on & store in a dark place for 1 week then refrigerate & it’s ready to eat…. yum!

Makes 2 jars

Kimchi

I tried Kimchi (a Korean spicy version) last week and wow, does it pack a punch! I love it also… with lovely chilli, ginger and garlic flavours (plus it uses up my homegrown radishes!). I can’t eat it by itself like sauerkraut but it will be so good to spice up other dishes. It went so nicely with leftover corned beef!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup salt
• 1 litres filtered water
• 500g roughly cut cabbage
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 1 cm ginger grated
• 1 tbs fish sauce
• 4 radishes thinly sliced
• 2 spring onions sliced into 2 cm lengths & cut finely lengthways
• 3 chillies finely chopped
• dash sesame oil

Preparation

1. Dissolve salt in water and soak cabbage for 4 hrs or overnight.
2. rinse well and drain well.
3. mix other ingredients together in large bowl (I used the TM to blend garlic, chilli and ginger)
4. add cabbage (officially you should wrap cabbage pieces around other ingredients
5. stuff tightly into jar tight glass jar
6. Let sit for 2-3 days in a cool dark place then refrigerate after opening. It should last about 3-4 weeks.

Prebiotics and Probiotics

In order for the good bacteria (probiotics) to survive in the gut, you need to feed them non-soluble fibre (prebiotic) such as flaxseeds, green vegetables, oats.

For a a great way to easily get my daily dose of probiotics and prebiotics at the same time I love

• adding some tasteless Fibergy and a stick of powder
• Probiotics to my shakes in the morning.

 

Here’s an easy, yummy salad  that sneaks in some wonderful saurkraut.

 

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