Cooking with
Celestina
J
uly is National Culinary Arts Month, which promotes the awareness of professional cooks and chefs, as well
as their contributions to new culinary trends. A major food trend in 2018 is Gut-Friendly Foods — this includes
fermented foods such as kimchi, miso, keifer, kombucha and prebiotics such as onions, garlic, and other alliums.
At Wellness Cucina, I work closely with my clients to restore good gut health. Following a four step process it is
essential to remove foods that cause inflammation, replace essential nutrients back into the diet, restore beneficial
bacteria into the gut, and then repair the gut to rejuvenate the gut lining.
Fermentation promotes the growth and life cycle of good bacteria to transform the flavor and shelf life of ingredi-
ents. It’s very simple to do at home – all you need are some sterilized jars, vegetables, and a bit of patience. To ster-
ilize your jars — start with a wide mouth jar, wash the jars and lids thoroughly in warm soapy water, then leave to
dry on the draining rack, drying the lids with a clean tea towel. Put your jars on a shelf in the oven for 15 minutes,
then remove with oven mits. Once cool, they are ready to use.
To get you started fermenting check out the recipe below:
Quick Kimchi
Ingredients
1 Chinese cabbage, bok choy will
work
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 inch piece ginger, grated
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp sriracha chili sauce
1 tbsp powdered sugar
3 tbsp rice vinegar
2 carrots, coarsely grated
4 green onions, shredded
Directions
Slice the cabbage into 2.5cm
strips. Tip into a bowl, mix with
Cooking with Celestina