Sichuan Pao Cai (Chinese kimchi)

It only takes 25 minutes to make authentic Sichuan Pao Cai (Chinese kimchi) that can last for more than 30 years!

These pickled cabbage, carrots, radish, daikon, celery, and peppers are savory, sweet, spicy, sour, refreshing, crispy, and rich in beneficial bacteria.

They can be enjoyed as appetite-opening side dishes, or as condiments that can bring extra rich flavor to your food.

How does Pao Cai taste?

Chinese pao cai has a very complex but balanced flavor of savory, sweet, sour, spicy, bitter and wine aroma.

In China, people usually describe good pao cai as: 颜色鲜亮 (bright and colorful)，入口咸酸 (salty and sour for the first bite)，口感脆嫩 (crisp and tender in texture)，开胃生津 (appetizing)，回味甘甜(sweet aftertaste).

If it’s your first time trying Sichuan Pao Cai, you might think it’s too salty and have a strong attempt to add a cup of sugar to the brine.

It’s because Chinese pickle brine needs to contain 6% to 8% of salt to help in preservation.

But right after you swallow the first bite, your tongue will be hit by the unique sweet aftertaste from these pickled vegetables. Then you are addicted to Pao Cai’s special flavor.

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. 

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 this refrigerator pickle recipe, we just need to soak the vegetables in the pickle brine overnight. Click picture below to see my snowman overnight refrigerator pickles recipe.

Sometimes the concept of kimchi and pickle do overlap!

For example, when we make Chinese pao cai, 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.

Production of Pao Cai

To make Sichuan Pao Cai, we need to carefully wash and dry the fresh vegetables, cut them into bite size, and soak them in pickling brine until they are flavored and fermented.

A great amount of salt (6% – 8%) is added into the pao cai brine, in order to create a suitable environment for lactic acid bacteria to grow.

Chinese kimchi is usually seasoned by salt, sugar (traditionally rock candies), Sichuan pepper, chili, ginger, garlic, cilantro, green onions, and other spices like bay leaves and star anises.

Besides these seasonings, the special fact about pao cai is that, the flavor adds up every time you add new vegetables to the brine! Daikon, carrots, celery, cabbage, long beans … Everything you add to your pickling brine would subtly change it’s flavor.

That’s why every single jar of Chinese pickled vegetables should taste different! And the older the brine gets, the richer its flavor would be. 

Korean kimchi is often compared with Sichuan pao cai, but they have very different production process:

While making kimchi, a generous amount of salt is used to draw out water from fresh vegetables. Chili pepper and seafood paste is applied on each layer of vegetable to create a spicy and umami taste.

Storage of Pao Cai

Because of the high salt content in Pao Cai brine, if you take good care of it, it can stay good for up to 30 years.

(Once opened, kimchi can only be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for no longer than 6 months.)

Pickling vegetables in old pickling brine can be faster: cabbages take about 1 day; carrots, daikon, and radishes take about 3 days; long beans take about 1 week.

Here are some tips for how to keep your Chinese pickle brine good for decades:

• Always use dry and clean utensils to get the pickles. No oil or hands in the jar!
• Observe your pickle brine often, add a splash of high alcohol level (>60%) white wine to the brine as needed or when you see white fungus. 
• Do not leave leafy vegetables, such as cabbage, in the brine for more than 2 days. Finish the old vegetables before you add fresh ones to the brine. 
• Keep the pickling jar in a cool and dark place. You can store the pickling jar in the fridge but you don’t have to unless your living environment is extremely hot. Avoid direct sun light. 
• Only add clean and dry vegetables to the brine. Add salt once the pickled vegetables start to taste more sour than salty. 
• If you use a water-sealed crock, pay attention to the water level in the moat, never let it dry.

How to test and use a water sealed crock

A traditional Chinese pickling jar has a moat around the top which you fill with water to seal the jar.

Once the vegetables start to ferment, the gas they produce will cause the air pressure inside the jar greater than the atmospheric pressure outside the jar.

Therefore, the gas will be able to escape the jar through the water in the moat. But air outside won’t be able to get into the jar. 

Here is how to test the if your crock can be perfectly sealed by water:

1. Fill the moat half way full with water. 

2. Fold a piece of kitchen towel twice so it can be inserted into the crock.  Lighting the kitchen towel along its edge.

3. Put the burning kitchen towel into the crock, quickly over the lid.

4. Observe the water level in the moat. If the crock is tightly sealed, the water will be quickly soaked into the jar.

Equipment you will need:

• Pickling Jar (Mine is 1.5L, see link below)

 

Ingredients

– Classic Sichuan Pao Cai Brine:

• 1 L water (Boil 1L of water, let it cool down to room temperature. Or use bottled water.)
• 60 g pickling salt (Can use kosher salt as a substitute, make sure there’s no additives like iodine or anti-caking agents.)

• 20 g white liquor (>50% alcohol by volume) (I used Chinese baijiu. You can also use vodka.)
• 20 g rock crystals candies (Can use cane sugar as a substitute.)

• 15 pickled peppers (Store bought ones)
• 40 g pickled pepper brine ((Store bought one. Used as a “starter”.)

• 4 g Sichuan peppercorns (Must-have)

• 2 g star anises (Optional)

• 3 bay leaves (Optional)
• 1 stalk green onion (about 10g)
• 10 g cilantros
• 4 cloves of garlic – peeled

– Vegetables to be pickled (feel free to substitute with your favorite vegetables):

• 100 g carrots – peeled
• 4 small red radishes – unpeeled
• 200 g white radish (daikon) – peeled
• 100 g cabbage
• 50 g ginger – peeled
• 40 g celery

Step-by-step INSTRUCTIONS

– Prepare vegetables

1. Peel garlics, ginger, daikon, carrot. Wash celery, cabbage, small red radishes, cilantros, and green onion. Pat dry with kitchen towel. Set aside.

2. Cut daikon, carrot, and celery into baby-carrot-size pieces. Cut cabbage into wedges. You leave the whole peeled ginger piece intact, or cut the ginger into red-radish-size pieces.

3. Make sure all the vegetables are clean and dry before adding them into the pickling jar.

– Making Chinese Kimchi (Sichuan Pao Cai, 泡菜)

1. Add 60g pickling salt to 1L bottled water, stir until dissolved.

2. Put all the ingredients in the “vegetables” section to a clean pickling jar.

3. Add store bough pickled peppers, pickled pepper brine, Sichuan peppercorns, star anises, bay leaves, rock crystals candies, and garlic cloves to the pickling jar.

4. Wrap green onion and cilantros together to make a bundle, tuck them under the pickling jar’s narrow opening, so that other vegetables won’t float to the top.

5. Pour salted water to the jar until it covers all the ingredients.

6. Pour 20g white wine (Chinese baijiu or vodka) to the jar to prevent mold.

7. Add bottled water to the moat, put the lid on. Store the pickling jar under room temperature in a cool and dark place for 2 days.

8. 2 days later, use a pair of clean chopsticks to remove green onions, cilantros, and garlics. They are here for adding extra flavors. You can discard them or use them immediately in making meat dishes. Transfer pickled cabbages and carrots to a serving plate, serve as a side dish.

9. The red radishes, carrots, and daikon can be enjoyed after 5 days since they have been pickled. Do not leave them in the brine for more than 7 days.

10. Once all other pickled vegetables has been removed, store the pickling jar in the fridge, as water to the moat as needed. Pickled peppers and ginger can stay in the brine for up to 3 months.

11. Once all the vegetables are removed, you can add fresh vegetables to the old brine to make more pickles. Add more salted water, spices (Sichuan peppercorns,  star anises, bay leaves, cilantros, green onions, garlics …) as needed. Remember to add white wine on the top to prevent mold.

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