easy cabbage kimchi

What a great way to end the holidays than with a fresh, beautiful batch of kimchi. Kimchi is the name for the numerous types of pickled side dishes accompanying Korean meals, cabbage kimchi is the most popular and well-known.

Being born of Korean descent and studying abroad in Korea for a year, I couldn't pull myself away from this spicy, briny culinary pickled delight. When I came back home to the United States, it was the one thing I craved the most. I went to several different grocery stores and tried several different kinds of kimchi, and none of them matched up to the kind I had in Korea. All the kimchi I saw sold in stores here looked pale, sickly, and a little tragic. It was never spicy or flavorful enough compared to the taste I knew and craved.

This recipe is from Maangchi, a Korean(and more!) food recipe blog that I stumbled upon. After filing through numerous kimchi recipes from all over the internet, this is the one I found and loved. Making cabbage kimchi takes time, but I didn't want to spend 20 mins on making a super-quick batch but I didn't have the time to rub down whole cabbages and find storage in my already cramped fridge to sit and ferment. For this batch, I do not add the salty squid or oysters from the original recipe. It's personal preference, but I just enjoy the vegetables. And seafood is expensive.

If you're a Minneapolis-metro native, United Noodles is a godsend for those that seek out those hard-to-find Asian ingredients that you can't even find at your local grocery store or even "worldly co-op that has everything." Over 20 varieties of rice stick noodles? Yes. A dozen different kinds of Korean pepper and soybean paste? YES. Those little fishcakes with the pink swirls in the middle that every kid drooled over watching their favorite Saturday morning dubbed anime? YES YES YES! My advice is, google Asian grocery stores and hunt them down, I swear they will be your new favorite go-to shop.

 

So if you've got a lazy Sunday, a dozen empty mason jars, this might be the recipe for you.
P.S. These photos will look different from other photos because they were done (reluctantly) within my parents' home in the past. They weren't too happy with the mess. I also used a food processor that was way too small and ground ginger. Ground ginger substitution is okay. A two-cup food processor is NOT.

Maangchi's Easy Cabbage Kimchi

• 2-3 medium/large heads of Napa cabbage (I strongly advise to find Napa Cabbage, the leaves and stems are perfectly crunchy and absorb the paste beautifully. You can even find it at most grocery stores now!)
• 1/2 c. sweet rice flour (you can find this at some Asian grocery stores, fairly inexpensive. Regular flour can be used as a substitute as well.)
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 3/4 c. salt
• 1 c. fish sauce (soy sauce can be used as a substitute, or to make this vegan-friendly.)
• 2 1/2 c. Korean red pepper flakes (use less or more depending on your tastes)
• 1 c. crushed garlic
• 1-2 tbsp. peeled and minced ginger
• 1 c. chopped onion
• 5-10 diagonally sliced green onions
• 1-2 chopped leeks
• 4 large julienned carrots
• 1 large or 2 medium julienned Daikon radish (you can find this at most grocery stores now too, just don't use plain red radishes!)

Peel and discard the outer leaves of the Napa cabbage that are discolored or wilting. Cut the cabbage lengthwise and remove the cores from the bottom. Chop into bite-size pieces.

Fill a large bowl (or two) with cold water and soak the cabbage pieces. Sprinkle salt (divide salt between if using two bowls). Every 30 minutes, mix up cabbage in bowl to salt evenly for 1 1/2 hours. Afterwards, rinse cabbage in cold water three times to clean it thoroughly. Drain cabbage and set aside.

To make the base of the spicy pepper paste for the kimchi, put 3 cups of water and the 1/2 c. sweet rice flour in a pot, whisk and bring to a boil. Stir continuously till bubbly. Add the 1/4 c. sugar, stir and cook for a few more minutes until it is translucent. Let cool.

**Tip, if you are not a pro chopper, it's really helpful to julienne your vegetables with a mandolin or a food processor on "grate" mode. The grate mode makes it a little more like slaw, but it really cuts down on the tedious tiresome work.

Break out the food processor and add fish sauce, red pepper flakes, garlic, ginger and onion. Blend then puree with the sweet rice paste. Add spicy red pepper paste mixture along with vegetables and cabbage. Mix well to coat each vegetable. I love mixing with my hands, you can use rubber gloves or au naturale. I don't get pepper burns with my bare hands, but just remember to wash your hands well afterwards.

You can eat it immediately or can it in tight-sealed jars. Pack the kimchi tightly and make sure to leave about 2 inches space from the opening. This recipe makes about 5 large quart mason jar sizes. You can definitely half the recipe if needed. For supreme taste experience, let the jars sit at room temperatures for 1-2 days to ferment. Two days is the MAX, I repeat, DO NOT LET REST FOR MORE THAN TWO DAYS. Afterwards, unseal your jar to release the gases built inside. Your kimchi will bubble, smell fermented, and say "Okay, I'm ready to be eaten." You see, magical food science is happening in that jar, and twice I've made the mistake of not unsealing the jar and they burst and made a mess in the kitchen. Just unseal, release the gas, (sometimes the kimchi and liquids expand, so you may want to transfer excess kimchi into another container) and put in the fridge for future enjoyment.

Kimchi 101 recipe? Scramble it with eggs for breakfast. It's like eggs with chunky nutritious pro-biotic Sriracha.