Anything But Corn-Fed: Healthy College Cooking in Rural Iowa

I had a great weekend visiting with my family in North Carolina, but now that I am back in Iowa I have to start feeding myself breakfast again. My roommate, Rebecca, said this was “gross,” so maybe I am not doing such a good job. On the bright side, absolutely everything in this meal (excepting the salt and ginger) is either from my CSA or the farmer’s market. Judge for yourself…

Eggs with Kimchi

1 egg, hard-boiled and diced

equal volume of kimchi, diced

Mix them in a bowl and eat ‘em!

Okay, that part was easy. Here is how to make radish kimchi:

I only used radishes and a little bit of cabbage from my CSA, but Katz reccomends that you use daikon radishes, burdock root, turnips, Jerusalem artichokes, carrots, red radishes, and fresh horseradish root.

Soak the radishes or root vegetables in a brine of 4 cups of water and 3 tbl of salt for a few hours or overnight. Once soft, taste the vegetables. If they are too salty for your taste, rinse them off. Reserve the brine.

Mix the vegetables with a paste of 1 to 2 onions, leeks, scallions, or shallots (or more), 3 to 4 hot red chilies (or more, I used red pepper flakes), 3 to 4 cloves of garlic (or more), and 3 tbl of grated ginger (or more). Stuff everything in a clean quart-size jar. Pack it tightly, pressing it down until brine rises. If there is not enough brine to cover the vegetables completely, add the reserved vegetable-soaking brine. Weight the vegetables down with a smaller jar or a zip-lock bag filled with brine (I prefer the latter method). Check everyday to make sure the vegetables are under the brine. This protects them from mold and promotes the growth of desirable bacteria cultures.

After about a week, move the kimchi to the refrigerator. That’s it! Don’t bother buying kimchi from the store; it doesn’t taste nearly as good and the bacteria cultures have been killed off.

Katz, Sandor Ellix. Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company. 2003.