How To Ferment Cabbage, Make Indian Kimchi Salad for Probiotics (Gut Friendly Food)

 What can I use instead of rice flour in kimchi? Why does kimchi need rice flour? What can I use instead of glutinous rice flour? Can I use cornflour for kimchi?

Indian kimchi recipe is easy. All you need is Indian cabbage, carrot, radish, and any vegetable of choice. I have also added capsicum to my Indian kimchi. You may call it fermented cabbage as well. The recipe is simple to make and Indian kimchi stays good for at least a month in the fridge, if not more. I have not kept it longer.

Let's start making kimchi with Indian cabbage. 

Vegetarian Kimchi Ingredients 1 cabbage whole 2 tbsp- salt (more for soaking cabbage initially) 1 tbsp or more- kashmiri red chili powder 2 carrots 1 radish/mooli 1 capsicum 2 tbsp- jaggery 1/4 cup- hot water ginger, garlic 

1 onion

To begin with, Ravneet Bhalla starts by chopping cabbage and then rubbing salt on the cruciferous vegetable. Leave it aside for an hour. After an hour, give it a gentle rubbing once again. Keep it aside for another hour. Meanwhile, you can prepare the other vegetables for vegetarian kimchi. Chop carrot and grate radish. I have also chopped capsicum. 

take 1/4 cup of hot water and stir in 2tbsp of jaggery powder. Remove scum , if any. 

Mix cooked rice with onion, ginger, garlic, and jaggery until you get a coarse paste.add jaggery water and blend. 

Now if you are wondering whether jaggery or sweetener is important, then remember that the sweetener is only meant to speed up the fermentation process. The healthy bacteria will eat up all the sugars and release carbon dioxide to break down the starches in the food This aids in digestion. 

Once the cabbage has soaked well in the salt for 2 hours, rinse it well to remove the salt and squeeze it gently.

Following this, let's begin the kimchi assembling process. Mix salt with cabbage and keep aside. now add salt to all other vegetables along with Kashmiri red chili powder with the vegetables until both coat them well. Now add cabbage as well and make sure all the salt and spices coat everything properly. We will also be mixing the prepared rice paste here. Pour into a sterilized glass container and keep pressing down the vegetables until they start releasing water. clean the rim. Keep covered loosely for 2 days so that healthy bacteria can start the fermentation process and turn the kimchi into a gut-friendly food. I kept pressing down the kimchi everyday to ensure the juices remain on top. This step will prevent your hindustani kimchi from going bad. You may take a taste test to see how tangy the kimchi has turned out to be. Shift it to the refrigerator if the kimchi has developed a flavor and tang that you like. 

Kimchi is a fermented food that is good for your gut and intestines and aids in digestion. You may skip the kashmiri red chili powder if you want. I have added it in place of Korean red pepper to color my fermented cabbage.