The Spicy Spatula

If you were brave enough to click on this vegan recipe, congratulations! And Welcome to the land of weirdness.

Or maybe it’s not weird and maybe I’m just late to the odd, salty, vegan goodness that is vegan sauerkraut kimchi. Who knows?

Anyway I stumbled upon this recipe quite recently because for the holidays my Hubs decided he wanted to make sarmale, which is a Romanian dish of picked cabbage filled with rice, herbs & spices and vegan mince. But he ended up buying entirely too much pickled cabbage which was the first problem. The second? It was too thick to roll and he ended up cutting it into thin ribbons to make a sarmale casserole instead.

Annnnd, then there was almost a kilogram of pickled cabbage remaining. Never one to waste food, I dug into the recesses of my mind to think of different ways to enjoy pickled cabbage. There’s the Oktoberfest staple of kraut, potatoes and onions with vegan sausage. Always a favorite in our house. I figured we could add some carrot matchsticks or ribbons and let them absorb some of the pickled deliciousness.

And then I wondered if I could kimchi it so, of course, I consulted the ol’ Google machine and guess what? Totally possible. So I got down to work and if you’re feeling adventurous, you can too!

Kitchen Tools:

*Food processor
*Saucepan
*Latex gloves
*Colander
*Large mixing bowl

Ingredients:

*Sauerkraut
*Onion
*Ginger
*Garlic
*Wakame
*Vegan Worcestershire sauce
*Vegan soy sauce or aminos
*Gochugaru
*Gochujang
*Chili pepper
*Broth or water
*Cornstarch

Instructions:

-Rinse the sauerkraut…twice…or more. It’s incredibly salty which is great for plenty of different applications but if you don’t balance it out with the soy sauce and chili paste, it will end up being too salty. Trust me.

-Rough chop ginger, garlic, chili pepper and onion and toss into the food processor with wakame and chili flakes. Pulse a few times and then let it run until you have a paste. If it doesn’t break up well, add a few drops of rice vinegar.

-In a small pot add soy & Worcestershire sauce and broth. Add cornstarch slurry and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer until thick and then remove from the heat and stir in remaining chili flakes.

-When the soy mixture is cool enough to handle with a gloved hand, stir in the mixture from the food processor and the chili paste until blended.

-Put on your glove and get busy with your hands, slathering the sauce all over the sauerkraut until it’s covered. Stuff it into airtight jars and leave overnight. Then keep it refrigerated until you’re ready to eat it.

***If you find your sauerkraut kimchi is still too salty, add a few spoonfuls of vegan yogurt with individual servings. Takes the salt down a notch without dimming the flavors.***

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