Homemade Kimchi
An easy and authentic recipe for homemade kimchi - enjoy in a week! Always use clean chopsticks or tongs to get the kimchi from the jar. It can last in fridge for up to 6 months.
Equipment
- blender
- Large bowl
- food handling gloves
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 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)
Instructions
Salt the napa cabbages
- Cut 2 large napa cabbages lengthwise into 8 quarters. You don't have to wash them yet. We'll wash them 4 hours later.
- Apply kosher salt on each leaf, front and back.
- 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 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.
- Drain the cabbages by twisting them like twisting a wet towel. Set aside.
Make rice flour paste
- Put 3 tbsps of glutinous rice flour, 3 tbsps of sugar, and 1 cup of cold water in a pot, mix well.
- Turn on medium heat, keep stirring and boil for about 5 minutes until the porridge turns thicken like school glue.
- Turn off the heat, set aside to cool down.
Blend fruits and vegetables
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- Wash then cut 4 green onions (about 70g) into 2 inch pieces.
- 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.
- 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.
- Store our homemade kimchi in a ceramic container with lid or a glass kimchi jar. Do not use metal or plastic container.
Fermenting
- 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.
- After first stage of fermentation, close the lid tightly, store the kimchi in the fridge for 2 weeks for slow fermenting.
- 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.
Video
Notes
- You can eat some of your homemade kimchi right after making, or you will need to wait for at least 2 weeks until the amount of nitrite drops to a safe level. See table above for the nitrite reduction curve.