APPENDIX
U
Fermented Foods
Kimchi
Ingredients
2 heads of Napa cabbage (or another Chinese cabbage variety), shredded in a food processor
5–10 scallions, finely chopped
2–3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, crushed
2 jalapeños, finely minced
2 tablespoons crushed fresh red chili pepper
Half an onion, chopped (Optional)
Filtered or distilled water, as needed
½ teaspoon Celtic sea salt or Himalayan pink salt
2 tablespoons of raw honey
Directions
1. Mix together all ingredients (except salt and honey) in a bowl.
2. Add several cups of the mixture to a blender with filtered or distilled water, the sea salt, and the honey and blend to make a brine (should be a thick liquid). Starter cultures can be added to the brine if desired.
3. Add chopped vegetables and brine to a 1½ quart glass or stainless steel jar, packing them in snuggly, leaving 2 inches at the top. Take several cabbage leaves, roll them up and place them at the top to fill this 2-inch space.
4. Let the jar sit for a minimum of three days at room temperature. It is best to let them sit for a week or more. The culture should be kept at around 70 degrees F.
Homemade Yogurt
You will need a starter culture to begin. You can purchase it as a specific product or you can buy any live-culture yogurt available at the store. Make sure it says “contains live-cultures.” Once you have finished your first batch, you can reserve a little bit as the starter culture for the next batch.
Basic Steps
1. Heat the milk.
2. Cool the milk.
3. Add a cup of store-bought yogurt.
4. Pour mixture into sterilized mason jars.
5. Let the jars sit in a cooler with warm water for several hours.
Ingredients
1 gallon of milk
1 cup yogurt starter (use a small cup of plain yogurt, or a cup from your previous batch)
Four quart-size glass canning jars with four lids and four
screw tops
A cooler that will fit the four glass jars
1 gallon of water
Directions
1. Sterilize your glass jars, lids, and screw tops by placing them in a large pot. Fill with an inch of water; cover with lid and heat to boiling. Boil for 10 minutes. Leave the lid on the pot and move it off the heat until you are ready to use the jars.
2. Pour the milk into a large, heavy-bottomed stockpot or Dutch oven. Heat the milk to 185–190 degrees Fahrenheit (90–90 Celsius).
3. Cool the milk by placing the pot in a sink filled with cold water. Let it sit until the temperature goes down to 120 degrees Fahrenheit (50–55 degrees Celsius).
4. Add the yogurt starter to the cooled milk and mix with a whisk, stirring well to distribute the starter throughout the milk.
5. Pour the milk into the jars, and put the lids and screw tops on. Place them into a cooler.
6. Heat the gallon of water to 120 degrees F (50–55 degrees C) and pour into the cooler around the sealed yogurt jars. Close the cooler lid and let it sit for 3 hours.
7. After 3 hours, remove the yogurt jars from the cooler and place in the refrigerator.
Garlic and Yogurt Salad Dressing
Adapted from Jeffrey Goettemoeller (1998), Stevia Sweet Recipes: Sugar-Free—Naturally!
(Garden City Park, NY: Square One Publishers).
Ingredients
¾ cup plain yogurt
1 small garlic clove, minced
¼ teaspoon dried basil
½ tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/16 teaspoon green stevia powder
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
Directions
1. Whisk all ingredients together in a bowl and serve.
Homemade Kefir
Ingredients
Whole cow milk, goat milk, sheep milk, coconut milk, or raw milk
Starter culture
Directions
1. Gently heat the milk to about 90 degrees. Remove from the heat.
2. Add the starter culture, mix it up, cover, and let sit at room temperature for 24 hours.
3. It will thicken up enough for a toothpick to stand up in it. When it is ready, it will be thick but still pourable. Shake the kefir and place in the refrigerator.
4. A second batch of kefir can be made by simply adding a few spoonfuls of the first batch to warmed milk.
Miso Soup With Natto
Ingredients
¼ cup dried wakame seaweed
4–5 shiitake mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons of natto, or to taste
2 tablespoons brown miso
2 tablespoons sweet white miso, such as Saikkyo
2 scallions, sliced (for garnish)
Directions
1. Soak the seaweed in warm water for 30 minutes prior to cooking.
2. Bring the dashi to a simmer in a soup pot and add the mushrooms and the seaweed. Simmer for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to low.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the natto, brown miso, and sweet white miso, adding as much of the broth as it takes to make a smooth creamy paste. Place this mixture into the soup pot and let it heat through for 1 minute while stirring to dissolve the paste.
4. Serve immediately. Garnish with scallions.
*
Dashi is a type of stock used in Japanese soups and other recipes. Dashi is usually made from dried bonito (fish) flakes and/or kombu seaweed. It can also be made using store-bought dashi powder or granules, but homemade dashi is higher quality, more nutritious, and better tasting. See the recipe below for how to make your own.
Dashi
This basic Japanese soup stock is a key ingredient to many Japanese dishes, like Miso Soup and Congee (see recipes). It is made from kelp (kombu) and dried bonito flakes (fish flakes), and it only takes about thirty minutes to make. The stock ingredients are strained to make “first dashi,” a light broth with a milder flavor. “Second dashi” is made by taking the kombu and bonito from the first dashi and cooking it again to make a stronger, darker broth than first dashi.
Ingredients:
5 cups cold water
1 ounce dried kombu (about 5” x 5”)
3 cups loosely packed bonito flakes (“katsuobushi”)
Directions
1. Gently wipe the kombu with a damp cloth or paper towel, removing some of the powdery excess but not all of it.
2. Place the kelp in a pot with the cold water. (If making ahead of time, soak the kombu for several hours to bring out its flavor).
3. Put the water on medium heat and slowly bring to near boiling. Once the water is trembling and you see bubbles forming in the pot, just before boiling, remove the kelp (reserve for second dashi¾see Note).
4. Add the bonito flakes and bring the stock to a full boil. Turn off the heat and let it sit for 5 minutes while the bonito flakes sink to the bottom of the pot.
5. Using a fine strainer or sieve, strain and separate the bonito flakes from the broth. Reserve the bonito flakes for use in second dashi. The broth, or first dashi, can be used immediately in recipes (see Miso Soup with Natto recipe) or it may be refrigerated 3-7 days or stored in the freezer for 3 weeks.
6. If you’re making second dashi, add the reserved kombu and bonito flakes to a medium pot with 5 cups of water. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Do not boil.
7. Strain the stock through a fine strainer or sieve. Discard the bonito. The kombu can be discarded or eaten with sesame oil and sesame seeds and salt, or added to other soups or stews.
8. Second dashi can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-7 days or frozen for 3 weeks.