Recipe of the month: Gut-healing kimchi
This month is all about digestive health , which starts with the food we put in our mouth. The right foods can give you energy and help your immune system (among a slew of other things). But the wrong foods have no nutritional value and can lead to all types of symptoms and discomforts like heartburn.
One of the best ways to maintain your gut health and help your immune system is by incorporating probiotics into your diet. Some common strains of probiotics are Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. Prebiotics, like inulin, are nondigestible carbohydrates which are used by probiotic bacteria as food. That makes them important for your well-being too. You can find both probiotics and prebiotics as dietary supplements (Standard Process is a great brand) but you can also get probiotics by eating fermented and cultured foods like kimchi and yogurt.
When we think of fermented foods, the most common go-to my patients mention is usually kombucha. The trouble is, many of the bottled kombuchas lining store shelves are also filled with lots of sugar. So unless you’re drinking one that has very little - or better yet, no - processed sweeteners in it, the benefits can be cancelled out by the negative effects of refined sugar.
But this kimchi recipe is great. I love it because it takes cabbage, an ultra-nutritious cruciferous vegetable, and ferments it to create a natural probiotic. So it’s a win in two ways. Plus it’s spicy and delicious! Give it a try, post a picture on Instagram, and tag me.
Ingredients:
- 1 head of Napa cabbage (about 6 cups)
- 1 teaspoon of sea salt
- ½ cup radish, thinly sliced
- ½ cup scallions, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon of garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon of ginger, minced
- 2 teaspoons of coconut aminos
- 1 teaspoon of coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup of red pepper flakes or ground cayenne pepper
Instructions:
Place the shredded cabbage in a mixing bowl and stir in the sea salt. Squeeze with clean hands to tenderize the cabbage. Let the cabbage sit for one hour to draw out the moisture, squeezing again every 20 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Transfer the mixture to mason jars, packing in well with a wooden spoon. Leave 1-2 inches at the top. Close the jars tightly and set aside at room temperature to ferment for 2-5 days, periodically pushing the kimchi down with a clean spoon.
