Kim Chee #4

This is a straightforward homemade kimchi that skips the fish sauce and keeps the ingredient list short. Napa cabbage gets an overnight salt brine to wilt and soften, then gets mixed with garlic, fresh ginger, scallions, and a red pepper paste before packing into jars.

The overnight salt soak is the foundation. It draws moisture out of the cabbage, concentrating its flavor and creating the slightly crunchy-yet-pliable texture that good kimchi needs. Washing it three times the next day removes excess salt and that slippery film the brine leaves behind.

Cutting the scallion greens into slivers and mincing the whites gives you two different textures and intensities of onion flavor in each bite. The red pepper, salt, and water mixture creates a thin paste that coats every piece of cabbage and kickstarts the fermentation once it’s sealed in the jar.

Pack the jars loosely and poke out air bubbles with a chopstick. The cabbage needs room to release gases as it ferments.

Pro Tips

• Use enough salt water to fully submerge the cabbage during the overnight soak. Any pieces poking out won’t wilt properly.
• Wash thoroughly after brining. Three rinses sounds excessive but it prevents an overly salty finished product.
• Taste after one day in the fridge. Some people prefer it fresh and crunchy, others like it after a few days when the ferment develops more tang.
• Keep the jars sealed and refrigerated. This is a quick-style kimchi, not a long room-temperature ferment.

Variations

• Fish sauce addition: Add a tablespoon of fish sauce to the pepper paste for a more traditional, funky depth.
• Radish kimchi: Use daikon radish cubes instead of cabbage for kkakdugi, a chunky Korean radish kimchi.