Farm Tales Ep. 2 with Mika Chae
In episode two, we linked up with Mika Chae, chef and owner of Melbourne’s Korean hotspot Doju. We drove out to Five Tales Farm, this time to learn all about growing unique cucumber varieties from seed to harvest. Mika then gave us a run down of his fresh cucumber kimchi recipe using the Suyo Long and Shuyo White cucumbers that we source from Mikey and Kez.
To wrap up the day, Korean barbeque met the Australian countryside. We fired up a grill, cooked some grassfed Gippsland ribeyes, which we sliced and served ssam style with jester lettuce, japanese red shiso, cucumber kimchi and Mika’s macadamia ssamjang. What a treat. Below, check out Mika’s recipe for Cucumber Kimchi and watch his full episode of FARM TALES ‘here’.
Shuyo White and Suyo Long Cucumber Kimchi
INGREDIENTS
8-10 Shuyo White and Suyo Long Cucumbers
80g sea salt
1.5 liters water
1 onion (finely sliced)
1 carrot (julienne)
½ bunch garlic chives (cut into 4cm pieces)
160g fish sauce
120g gochugaru
40g garlic (grated)
20g ginger (grated)
40ml maesil-cheong
100g sesame seeds (toasted)
METHOD
Cut cucumbers into 7cm pieces.
Score a cross deep into each cucumber, starting at the top and stopping 1cm from the base to keep them intact.
Bring the water and sea salt to a boil.
Pour the hot salt water brine over the scored cucumbers and let them sit for 30 minutes. Then strain out cucumbers and allow them to cool completely.
While the cucumbers are cooling, mix the fish sauce, onion, carrot, garlic chives, gochugaru, garlic, ginger, and maesil-cheong, together in a separate bowl.
Use this mixture to fill the inside of the scored cucumbers, ensuring the filling reaches the center and additionally rub the liquid from the mixture over the outside of each cucumber to coat evenly.
Reserve the stuffed and seasoned in a container and leave at room temperature for 24 hours. After 24 hours, store the cucumber kimchi in the fridge.
Serve cold, garnished with toasted sesame seeds.
The longer the cucumber kimchi sits, the texture will soften and flavour will develop. Mika finds the sweet spot for cucumber kimchi to be 2-5 days.
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