Napa Cabbage Kimchi
Here is a recipe for how to make classic, spicy, traditional napa cabbage kimchi called tongbaechu-kimchi, a.k.a. baechu-kimchi or pogi-kimchi. But this dish is so common and iconic among Koreans that we simply call it “kimchi.”
It uses the whole cabbage leaf, which makes it more labor-intensive than the other ones on my website, because you’ll need to take time to spread the spicy paste leaf by leaf. It’s more work, but this is the traditional style
By Exeter Produce
Jun 27, 2024Prep Time
10Cook Time
2h 30 minServings
8 lbsNutritional Info
Ingredients
For salting cabbage:
6 pounds (about 2.7 kg) napa cabbage
½ cup Kosher salt (2.5 ounces: 72 grams)
For making porridge:
2 cups water
2 tablespoons sweet rice flour (aka glutinous rice flour)
2 tablespoons Turbinado sugar (or brown or white sugar)
Method
On fermentation
The kimchi will start fermenting a day or two at room temperature, depending on the temperature and humidity of your room. The warmer and more humid it is, the faster the kimchi will ferment. Once it starts to ferment it will smell and taste sour, and pressing on the top of the kimchi with a spoon will release bubbles from beneath. If you’re using a sealed jar with a lid, be sure to open it once a while, let it breathe, and press down on the top of the kimchi.
Once it starts to fermented, store in the refrigerator to use as needed. This slows down the fermentation process, which will make the kimchi more and more sour as time goes on.
Vegetables:
2 cups Korean radish matchsticks (or daikon radish)
1 cup carrot matchsticks
7 to 8 green onions (scallions), chopped
1 cup chopped Asian chives (buchu), optional (substitute with 3 green onions, chopped)
1 cup water dropwort (minari), optional