Kimchi is incredible for your health due to it naturally containing probiotics which are highly beneficial for good gut health. Try out our delicious recipe and add it to many of your favourite dishes..
Ingredients :
MAIN INGREDIENTS
- 4kg napa cabbage – remove thick outer cabbage leaves
- 16 cups water (3840 ml)
- 1.5 cups Korean coarse sea salt or natural rock salt (for salt water)
- 1/2 cup cooking salt , medium sized crystals (to sprinkle)
KIMCHI SEASONING / KIMCHI PASTE
- 1.5 cups water (360 ml)
- 1.5 cups gochugaru (Korean chili flakes) or regular chili flakes
- 540 g Korean radish or daikon radish – julienned
- 1 tbsp fine sea salt
- 3.5 tbsp fish sauce (optional)
- 90g Korean chives or green onions – cut in 5 cm / 2 inch length
- 140g carrots – julienned
- 1/4 cup minced garlic (42g)
- 1/2 tbsp minced ginger
- 2 tbsp raw sugar
- 75g onions – blended (with a stick blender or vegetable chopper) or finely grated
Instructions:
- Cut the napa cabbage into quarters and rinse it in running water. Make sure the stem is intact.
- Dissolve the coarse salt in the water (16 cups) in a large bowl. Dip the napa cabbage in the saltwater one at a time and transfer it onto a tray for further salting.
- Pinch some cooking salt (1/2 cup total for all pickled cabbages) and rub over the thick white part of the cabbage. Open each leaf gently and sprinkle the salt over the thick white part. Repeat this for the rest of the cabbage. Reserve the saltwater from when you soaked the cabbage for later use.
- Put the salted cabbage in a large bowl (wedge side of the cabbage to be facing up) and pour in the reserved saltwater from the previous step. Put something heavy (sterilize it with boiling hot water first) on top of the cabbage to press down (e.g heavy pot with water in).
- Set the cabbage aside for 6 hours to pickle. Rotate the cabbage upside down every 2 hours.
- Once the soaking process is finished, rinse the cabbages in running water, especially the thick white part of the cabbage, to get rid of the salt. Place them in a colander and allow to drain for 1 hour.
- In a large mixing bowl add the radish, fine sea salt (optional Korean fish sauce). Leave it for 10 minutes for the radish to salt down. Add Korean chives, carrots, minced garlic, minced ginger, raw sugar, blended onion and the Korean/regular chili flakes. Mix it all together.
- Place a quarter of a cabbage on a tray. Spread the seasonings over each leaf. (You only need to season one side of the leaf.) 1 – 2 small handfuls of seasoning is enough per quarter of cabbage. Repeat this step for the rest of the cabbage. Don’t pull the cabbage leaves off the stem, leave them attached so it holds together better.
- Make sure your glass jar (kimchi container) is a room temperature. Sterilize your jar with boiling hot water and pat it dry with a clean paper towel.
- Transfer the kimchi into your sterilized kimchi container and put the lid on. Leave it out at room temperature for 24 hours, then move it to the refrigerator. While you can start eating it once it’s chilled, you may want to wait 3-4 more days for it to develop more flavor.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- 1 Tbsp = 15 ml, 1 cup = 250 ml
- Kimchi can typically last in the fridge for a couple of months, but depending on the storage conditions, you could keep it for slightly longer.