Kimchi grilled cheese toastie
- Preparation and cooking time
- Total time
- + 3 hours salting + 3-6 days fermenting
- A little effort
- Makes 2
Skip to ingredients
- 4 slices mature cheddar
- 4 slices monterey jack
- 4 thick slices bloomer
- softened butter
- sea salt
- 1kg (about 2) Chinese cabbagecut into 5cm dice
- 1 medium carrotgrated
- 6 spring onionscut into 5cm lengths and cut into matchsticks
- 100g mooligrated
- grated to make 2 tbsp ginger
- crushed to make 2 tsp garlic
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 4 tbsp korean ground dried hot pepper flakes (gochugaru)
- 1 tsp golden caster sugar
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal625
- fat36.7g
- saturates22.2g
- carbs40.1g
- sugars4.1g
- fibre3.2g
- protein32.1g
- salt3.1g
Method
step 1
To make the kimchi, dissolve 4 tbsp of sea salt in 2 litres of water to make a brine. Put the cabbage into a large bowl, pour the brine over, weigh it down with a heavy plate so the cabbage is covered, and leave for 3 hours.
step 2
Drain the cabbage, but reserve the brine. Mix the cabbage with the remaining ingredients and 1 tsp salt. Pack the mixture down into a 3 litre jar (one with a lid). Pour in enough brine to just cover the mixture (it won’t be much). Put a large ziplock bag into the mouth of the jar on top of the cabbage, with the open end up and pour the remaining brine into the bag. Seal the bag and leave the kimchi to ferment, with the lid open, or off, for 3 to 6 days until it’s sour. (Putting the brine in the ziplock bag makes the full bag weigh down the kimchi and allows it to breathe as an airlock jar would without the salt in the kimchi drawing in more water.) Remove the bag, seal the jar and put it in the fridge, it will keep in the fridge for months.
step 3
To make the grilled cheese, layer a slice of cheddar and monterey jack on all 4 pieces of bread. Generously load up 2 slices with a thick layer of the kimchi, and sandwich with the other 2 bread slices.
step 4
Melt a good knob of butter in a frying pan on a medium heat and wait until it starts to foam. Add the sandwiches and cook for 3-4 minutes until the bread on the underside turns golden and crisp. Flip the sandwiches over, squishing them down gently, and add another knob of butter to the pan, swirling it around. Fry and keep flipping until the cheese starts to melt and both sides are golden and crisp.
