Cooking Expert Shimamoto Miyuki Gives Low-Effort Fermentation Recommendations that You Can Easily Use Up

As a cooking expert and no-fuss homemaking advisor, Shimamoto Miyuki suggests time-saving recipes and ideas for not wasting food. Shimamoto’s grandmother is Korean and she grew up exposed to both Japanese and Korean food culture, so fermented foods have always been a part of her life. She shared with us ideas for enjoying fermented foods without much time or effort, such as how to dress up kimchi, as well as an easy watery kimchi recipe.

Making recipes from ideas found in Korean cuisine and in dishes from around the world

Shimamoto first encountered fermentation in early childhood. Her grandmother is Korean, so she was familiar with Korean cuisine, which is a treasure trove of fermented foods such as kimchi and gochujang red chili paste.

“My grandmother doted on me, and I ate Korean food every time I visited her home. I couldn’t handle spicy food when I was little, so my grandmother would quickly rinse the kimchi with water so I could eat it. She had me drink the kimchi soup because it is full of lactic acid bacteria that are good for you, and she taught me that you should fry or simmer kimchi that has gone sour, rather than throwing it away. So I was very acquainted with fermentation even at an early age.”

Shimamoto would sometimes help her grandmother make kimchi. They often made kakuteki — kimchi with cubes of daikon radish — and kimchi with perilla leaves.

“The key to kimchi’s flavor is yangnyeom — Korean aromatic ingredients and seasoning spices. Korea has a principle that food and medicine share the same origins and that what you eat is medicine for your body. My grandmother taught me that when making kimchi, one must put into it joyful feelings with wishes for the good health of your family.”

Shimamoto is a cooking expert who travels extensively. She has written many essays and guidebooks related to travel, in addition to her recipe books.

Shimamoto grew up with a mixture of two food cultures: Korean cuisine from her grandmother and Japanese cuisine from her mother. As she grew up, she became interested in the differences among food cultures and began traveling around the world. This led to her to present ideas she had learned on her travels from her perspective as a cooking expert.

“I had an opportunity to spend time with a nomadic tribe in Mongolia. Because they periodically move around to different areas, they make sure to use every part of their foodstuffs. That experience opened my eyes to ecology and got me thinking about how to use up all of one’s food ingredients. Another thing was that in Japan, you do all the housework yourself, while in Southeast Asia, many households don’t have a kitchen and in Taiwan, it’s normal to go out for breakfast. I thought it would be good if we could somehow make housework less strenuous. So I started suggesting recipes that are fast and tasty and recipes that combined familiar fermentation and the idea of using up all your ingredients.”

A recipe for faux watery kimchi using seasonal vegetables

Shimamoto says she keeps healthy thanks to the fermented foods she eats. But at the same time, it’s not in her character to make everything herself. So she has devised ways to enjoy incorporating fermented foods in her diet without any hassle.

“I have a Fermentation Meister certificate, but I’ve still had bad experiences with mold when making my own miso or salted koji [rice malt]. (laughs) I do make kimchi, because you can eat it soon after it ferments. In general though, I prefer thinking up ideas for combining things with miso I’ve bought and ideas for finishing off what I have on hand without wasting anything, rather than enjoying the time it takes to make things from scratch.”

Shimamoto stores kimchi and other regular side dishes in transparent containers to see what’s inside at a glance and so she doesn’t forget to finish them

The watery kimchi Shimamoto usually keeps in her fridge is an easy recipe. The faux watery kimchi she shares here uses daikon radish and apples, but you can substitute seasonal vegetables such as cabbage.

“In summer, I make watery kimchi with a more orthodox method. But in winter, fermentation progresses slowly, so I make a lightly pickled watery kimchi-style dish that you can make without much effort. It lasts for about 10 days and gives you lots of vegetables.”

Combine ingredients that tend to go to waste or that you have in stock to spice up your store-bought kimchi

Dress up purchased kimchi to give it a new tastiness. Just slice open some lightly pickled cucumbers, stuff them with Chinese cabbage kimchi, and transform them into cucumber kimchi.

Slice the cucumbers in the center without cutting through to the ends and fill with kimchi.
Shimamoto recommends well-fermented, sour-tasting kimchi for this dish.

Even if you don’t make a lot, you can still make a snack from half-cut leftover cucumbers

“My grandmother often made me these cucumber kimchi. Cucumbers are one of the top items in food lost lists. People buy them in packs of five because they’re cheap, but then they don’t finish them. You can also add kimchi to potato salad for a delicious dish. Do note that some commercial kimchi is not fermented, but just pickled in sauce. So be sure to choose fermented kimchi that will turn sour with time.”

Another thing to know is fermented foods pair very well together. You can try adding kimchi to natto [fermented soybeans] or a little in miso soup.

“One recommendation of mine that combines fermented foods is a yogurt kimchi rice bowl. Put drained yogurt, kimchi, okra, and other ingredients on rice and drizzle some sesame oil on top.”

You can quickly make a healthy side dish by stir-frying slightly-sour Chinese cabbage kimchi with pork and placing it on tofu

An idea that Shimamoto recommends is using tofu or milk, which both go excellently with kimchi, that comes in long-life paper packs. In these containers, tofu will keep for about six months and milk for about three months at room temperature, which is why people have started taking notice of them in recent years.

“If you keep these packs in stock, you can make hot tofu with tofu, kimchi, and cheese or Korean-style cream pasta or stew with kimchi and milk. Refrigerated tofu and milk have a short shelf life, and you often end up throwing them away. Using long-life products, however, means you don’t waste anything.”

Long-life paper packs can be stored for long periods at room temperatures. Having them in stock is a good way to be prepared for disasters too.

How to use gochujang, which tends to go unused

Gochujang, a fermented condiment, often doesn’t get completely used up, leading to food waste. “Think of gochujang as miso with chili peppers and use it in the same way you’d use Japanese miso,” says Shimamoto. There are lots of delicious uses, such as mixing equal amounts of mayonnaise and gochujang for a veggie dip or adding gochujang to natto.

“When making miso soup or simmered saba mackerel in miso, try using less Japanese miso and adding in a little gochujang. Gochujang toast — spreading gochujang on bread, topping it with cheese, and grilling it — is delicious with a little kick to it. Gochujang goes well with soy sauce, so you can add a little to nikujaga meat and potato stew or teriyaki chicken to give them a Korean-style flavor.”