Kimchi Recipe

An easy recipe for authentic homemade kimchi.

Kimchi vs Pickle

The difference between kimchi and pickle is the process of how they preserve foods.

Kimchi is made from fermented vegetables like cabbages or radishes.

Fermentation is the process of breaking down carbohydrates and glucose into alcohol or acids. 

Fresh cabbage and radishes naturally contain lactic acid bacteria, which will grow rapidly when the anaerobic conditions, moisture level, and temperature is appropriate.

During the process of fermentation, lactic acid bacteria produce lactic acid, which suppress the growth of harmful bacteria and add a unique sour flavor to kimchi.

Therefore, as long as the lactic acid content reaches a certain concentration, long-term storage can be achieved on kimchi.

The salt content in kimchi is 2% to 4%, which makes kimchi is a low-salt food.

A pickle is a food that’s been submerged in a salty brine or an acid liquid, such as vinegar or lemon juice.

For example, in our danmuji recipe (Korean pickled radish), we soak salt marinated radishes in white vinegar to preserve them.

Sometimes the concept of kimchi and pickle do overlap!

For example, when we make Chinese Paocai, we submerged fresh vegetables in a 8% salty brine. The salty brine can inhibit the growth of undesirable spoilage bacteria. But at the same time, the vegetables will gradually ferment in salty water and produce more lactic acid to preserve themselves.

Therefore, it is possible for a preserved food to be kimchi and pickle at the same time.

Chinese Paocai vs Korean Kimchi

Mr He and I love homemade kimchi, especially during winter time. Just like most people in China, I’ve always been believing that kimchi is originated from Korea.

Chinese people invented paocai 泡菜, which is “vegetables pickled in brine“, far earlier than Korean people invented kimchi.

What makes things complicated is that paocai and kimchi are both called 泡菜 in Chinese. However, Chinese paocai and Korean kimchi are totally two different dishes. 

Generally speaking, Chinese paocai is fresh vegetables being pickled in a clear salty brine. While Korean kimchi is salt marinated vegetables getting fermented in sweet and spicy paste.

However, if we translate the word “kimchi” as “fermented vegetables”, or “ferment” as a verb, we can actually call any type of pickled vegetables as “kimchi”.

And as Doobydobap mentioned in her recent kimchi video, “You can kimchi everything!” Don’t be restricted by the ingredients and the methods. Fermented vegetables will naturally produce probiotics, which make them healthy to eat and unlikely to go bad.

Is kimchi healthy for you at all?

Yes, kimchi is a super healthy food. Lactobacilli bacteria in kimchi can boost your digestive health. Kimchi may lower cholesterol levels, improve your immune system, and even slow down the aging process.

No wonder Korean celebrities always look so young!

But you still need to keep an eye on the nitrite level.

Studies suggested that nitrite level in homemade kimchi will decrease to a safe level after 12 days of fermenting.

So, after you making the kimchi, make sure you wait patiently for at least 2 weeks until you enjoy them.

Some Tips for making kimchi:

1. Salt the vegetables

The process of making kimchi always involves salting the vegetables to remove excess water. Once the water is removed from the leaves, other seasonings will be able to better penetrate over time.

Vegetables can also be preserved for a longer time when there is less water in their cells.

To salt the cabbages, you will need to open each leaf gently and rub the salt over both sides of every piece of leaf.

Make sure you use coarse sea salt instead of fine salt. Because coarse salt is less salty and can draw out more water than the same amount of fine table salt.

2. Rinse carefully

You don’t need to wash the vegetables before the salting step. But make sure you open up all the leaves and rinse the whole vegetable thoroughly to wash off all the salt and germs. You will be eating the kimchi raw after it’s fermented, so you’d better wash it carefully.

The salty flavor has been marinated into the leaves. So you don’t need to worry about washing off too much flavor.

3. A apple and a pear

Blending some fruits and add them to the paste will not only add some fruit flavors to your kimchi, but also help to speed up the fermentation process. Because blended fruits can ferment faster than cabbage leaves.

4. Glutinous rice flour paste

Korean kimchi is not soaked in any brine. During the process of fermentation, the cabbage will release quite much water, which will rinse off the seasonings from the leaves.

Therefore, we will need to make a thick glutinous rice flour paste to be mixed with other seasonings. So that they can be better adhered to the cabbage leaves.

If you don’t have glutinous rice flour, you can also use cornstarch instead! But do not use all purpose flour.

5. Fermenting Jar

Ideally, you should store your kimchi in a fermenting jar with a water sealing cap. So that the gas produced by lactic acid bacteria will be able to release, and the germs outside won’t be able to get into the jar to pollute your food.

Nevertheless, a regular glass or ceramic jar with lid will also work greatly to make kimchi. Just make sure you loosely cover the lid on the first day of fermentation, so that the lactic acid bacteria can breath and grow.

Do not use a plastic or metal container for storing kimchi, since they are not safe for retaining acidic liquids.

If you accidently “polluted” the water sealing gap of the jar with some kimchi paste, make sure you dip a kitchen paper with some alcohol to sanitize the opening of the jar.

6. Fermented shrimps

Authentic Korean kimchi use fermented shrimps (Saeujeot 새우젓) to help to greatly deepen the flavor!

I can’t find Korean fermented shrimps anywhere from last year to this year. So I have tried to use dried shrimps and shrimp paste instead. I found that 1/4 tsp of Thai shrimp paste can significantly boost our homemade kimchi’s flavor.

7. Vegan substitutions?

Kimchi is usually not a vegan friendly food. Fish sauce and fermented shrimps are two major ingredients that make the kimchi flavorful.

Many vegan kimchi recipes will simply skip these two ingredients or use soy sauce as a substitution.

It is totally legal to do that. But your kimchi will lose so much staple flavors without these two important ingredients.

For the fish sauce, there are actually many vegan friendly fish sauce available on market.

As for the fermented shrimps, you can try using fermented seaweed paste instead to add some aroma of the sea.

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Now, let’s get some homemade kimchi ready for this winter!

Equipment you will need:

• Blender
• Large bowl
• Food handling gloves
• Glass kimchi jar

Ingredients:

• 2 large napa cabbages
• ¾ cup kosher salt (fine salt will make kimchi too salty)

– Rice flour paste:

• 3 tbsp glutinous rice flour
• 1 cup water
• 3 tbsp sugar

– Ingredients to be blended:

• 1 apple
• 1 Asian pear
• ½ sweet onion (about 250g)
• ½ daikon radish (about 250g fresh daikon)
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 head of garlic (8 to 12 cloves of garlic depending on their size)
• ½ cup fish sauce
• ¼ tsp shrimp paste

– Kimchi paste ingredients 

• 2 cup chili pepper powder
• 1 carrot (about 150g fresh carrot)
• ½ daikon radish (about 250g fresh daikon)
• 4 green onions (about 70g)

Step by step: how to make homemade kimchi

– Salt the napa cabbages

1. Cut 2 large napa cabbages lengthwise into 8 quarters. You don’t have to wash them yet. We’ll wash them 4 hours later.

2. Apply kosher salt on each leaf, front and back.

3. Place salted napa cabbages on a large baking pan in a pile, put another large baking pan and something heavy on the top to press the water out. (I placed 12 bottles of water).

4. 4 to 6 hours later, remove the baking pan on the top. Rinse the napa cabbage under cold running water to wash off the salt thoroughly.

5. Drain the cabbages by twisting them like twisting a wet towel. Set aside.

– Make rice flour paste

1. Put 3 tbsps of glutinous rice flour, 3 tbsps of sugar, and 1 cup of cold water in a pot, mix well.

2. Turn on medium heat, keep stirring and boil for about 5 minutes until the porridge turns thicken like school glue.

3. Turn off the heat, set aside to cool down.

– Blend fruits and vegetables

1. Peel and shred 1 daikon radish (about 500g) and 1 carrot (about 150g). You can use a cheese grater to shred them easily and evenly.

2. Add 1 tbsp of kosher salt to the shredded daikon radish, and ½ tbsp of kosher salt to the shredded carrot. Mix well and let marinate for 30 minutes. 30 minutes later, drain and squeeze out excess water.

3. Peel, core, and cut an apple and an Asian pear into chunks. Cut ½ sweet onion into wedges. Peel a head of garlic and a small piece of ginger. Add these ingredients together with half of the salted daikon shreds, fish sauce, and shrimp paste to a blender. Blend until smooth.

– Homemade kimchi paste

1. Wash then cut 4 green onions (about 70g) into 2 inch pieces.

2. In a large bowl, add in blended fruits and vegetables, rice flour paste, chili pepper powder, salted carrot shreds, the other half of the salted daikon shreds, and green onions, mix well.

3. Put on food handling gloves, spread the kimchi paste evenly on every cabbage leaf. The amount of paste should be just enough for 2 large napa cabbages.

4. Store our homemade kimchi in a ceramic container with lid or a glass kimchi jar. Do not use metal or plastic container.

– Fermenting

1. If you are using a ceramic container with lid, loosely cover the lid (do not seal). If you are using a kimchi jar, add cold clean water to the moat, put the lid on. Allow the kimchi to ferment under room temperature for 24 ( summertime) to 48 (wintertime) hours.

2. After first stage of fermentation, close the lid tightly, store the kimchi in the fridge for 2 weeks for slow fermenting.

3. Two weeks later, enjoy your homemade kimchi raw as a side dish or cook with it.

– Storage

• Always use clean chopsticks or tongs to get the kimchi from the jar. Keep the jar sealed or water-sealed, it can last in fridge for up to 6 months. If stored at room temperature, the lactic acid bacteria will grow too fast and produce too much acid, which will make your kimchi overly sour.

What can we make with homemade kimchi?