Ani's Raw Food Essentials - Ani Phyo [42]
Check your sauerkraut, and skim off any thin layer (a skin) you may see on top. Then, repack it down again. Check every 3 days. After 2 weeks, taste to see if it tastes ready for eating. Once it’s to your liking, transfer it to a glass quart jar, and store in the fridge.
Will keep for many weeks in the fridge. The flavor will mature for the next few weeks.
GARLIC SAUERKRAUT
MAKES ABOUT 6 CUPS
PICKLING TIME: 2 WEEKS
It’s easy to make new sauerkraut flavors by adding spices and herbs such as fresh dill, thyme, rosemary, or chiles. Here, I add garlic and onion to give it a more savory flavor.
1 recipe Basic Green Cabbage Sauerkraut (page 121)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 sliced yellow onion
Follow the recipe for Basic Green Cabbage Sauerkraut, adding the garlic and onion before setting the sauerkraut to ferment.
CUCUMBER PICKLES
Pickles are faster and even easier to make than sauerkraut. And I’ve included a couple of recipes here so you can make some to enjoy with your sun burgers and in your Thousand Island Dressing (see page 188).
I include two types of recipes. The first is vinegar free, made using a salt brine, and is ready in one day. The second uses vinegar as a way to speed up the pickling process, which happens overnight.
SLICED CUCUMBER PICKLES (VINEGAR-FREE)
MAKES ABOUT 1 CUP
PICKLING TIME: 1 DAY
Cucumber is softened in salt and lemon juice, then set aside for a day to pickle. Add 2 tablespoons of fresh dill, or other dried or fresh herbs and spices, to this basic recipe to make additional flavors.
1 cup peeled cucumber, cut into ¼-inch-thick rounds
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
In a mixing bowl, toss the ingredients together. Place in a pickle press, under pressure. Or, place a plate over the mixture in the bowl, and stack heavy plates on top of it. Set aside at room temperature for a day.
Will keep in the fridge for several days.
SLICED PICKLES IN VINEGAR
MAKES 1 QUART
PICKLING TIME: OVERNIGHT
Sliced cucumber, carrot, and onion are softened in vinegar and salt. They’re flavored with pickling spice, which is usually made up of allspice, bay leaves, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, ginger, mustard seeds, and peppercorns.
This recipe will be ready to enjoy after pickling overnight.
¾ cup apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons ground pickling spice
1 cup filtered water
1 cup cucumber (use one 6 to 8 inches in length),
peeled and cut into ¼-inch-thick rounds
½ cup carrot peeled and cut into ¼-inch pieces
¼ cup sweet yellow onion, sliced into ¼-inch pieces
Place the vinegar, salt, pickling spice, and water into a 1-quart mason jar with a lid. Mix well. Add the remaining ingredients and close the lid tightly. Shake to mix well.
Set aside at room temperature for 3 to 4 hours. Then place in the fridge overnight.
Will keep for a week or more in the fridge.
KIMCHI
The Korean style of pickling and culturing vegetables is my favorite, perhaps because of my Korean heritage, or because I love spices and the kick of garlic and ginger.
Traditionally, kimchi was made to last through long, cold winter months when fresh vegetables weren’t available, and recipes vary by region and family taste. Kimchi can be made with different vegetables, cabbages, cucumbers, and daikon radishes, to name a few variations.
As I developed the kimchi recipes in this chapter, I’d pass them to my mother to make sure they still taste authentically Korean. Sometimes, she’d call one of her two sisters (one’s in New York City; and the other, in Seoul, Korea) for another opinion. So be assured these recipes are pretty close to the traditional flavors and textures. Mom and my friend So Young, both of whom are from Korea, helped me change Korean ingredients