Fresh & Easy Napa Cabbage Kimchi (6 ingredients)

The fifth taste is not “umami” but pungency according to Korean cuisine, and it's on full display in this very easy, fresh kimchi recipe.  Make it from scratch without buying a lot of ingredients.

According to The Kimchee Cookbook, this pungency is "necessary for stimulating the flow of saliva and the appetite." 

This kimchi would be served well with other traditional Korean side dishes such as sesame spinach, five minute bean sprouts, and cucumber kimchi.

How this Recipe Differs from Others

• This is a basic kimchi recipe that does not require buying a lot of ingredients.
  • There are so many ingredients you could add to kimchi. This just covers the essentials.
• This recipe vs. store bought kimchi
  • Store bought kimchi has been sitting on the shelf for at least a couple weeks, so it has had time to ferment and sour, like a dill pickle.
  • This recipe is meant to be eaten right away. (However, you can store it in the fridge, and let it ferment naturally.)
• This recipe vs. traditional kimchi
  • Traditional kimchi is made with a cooked rice flour paste, which adds flavor and thickness (so the kimchi is not so watery). A lot of store bought kimchis (particularly nationally distributed brands) will not include this rice flour paste. I suspect this is because it becomes highly prone to bad bacteria and can turn slimy.
  • Even though this recipe does not include the rice flour paste, I recommend trying it for a fresh kimchi experience.

Ingredients

• Napa cabbage - The quality of the napa cabbage will largely determine how well your kimchi turns out. If the leaves are tough, your kimchi will be tough. Look for firm tender, fresh leaves and firm white stems. You could also substitute regular green cabbage for a heartier, crunchier kimchi.
• Korean chili powder - Called gochugaru in Korean, this comes in coarse and fine powder form. Coarse chili flakes are usually used for kimchi. The flavor is fruity and ranges in the spice meter. You have to add a lot of it to make it really spicy, otherwise it's mostly used as a preservative and for color. Freeze if you do not use it within a month or two, or else the color will oxidize and turn dark reddish-brown.
• Coarse Sea Salt - The Korean version of sea salt is light, fluffy, and not too salty.  According to The Kimchee Cookbook, magnesium chloride in sea salt is essential to keeping the cabbage crisp and chewy.  Table salt is not recommended for that reason, but it still works if that is what you have.
• Fish Sauce - An ocean component is essential for a classic kimchi. Traditionally, baby salted pink shrimp would be used, but fish sauce is much more widely available in many supermarkets.
• Garlic - Essential for adding pungency and giving the cabbage some earthiness with raw garlic flavor.
• Green Onion (optional) -  You don't have to add this, but it adds color and a mild onion flavor.

See recipe card for quantities.

Let the Brine Shine

What makes kimchi different from other pickled vegetable recipes is the pre-salting technique.

There are a few reasons the cabbage needs to be salted prior to seasoning:

1. Flavor the cabbage with the sea (especially if you use the coarse sea salt).
2. Draw out some of the water to soften the vegetable fibers.
3. Start the preservation process.  Salt induces amino and and lactic acid fermentation.

You can either dip the cabbage in a saltwater brine or massage the salt directly into the leaves. This recipe does not use the wet brine, just because that's what my mom did.

Instructions

Traditional kimchi is fermented whole rather than chopped up. But chopping the cabbage is a lot easier to handle.

Toss the leaves with salt, and let it sit for about an hour or two.

As the salt penetrates the leaves, the leaves wilt and reduce in volume.

The test for doneness is the thick, white cabbage stem should bend instead of snap in half. At this point, the cabbage is softened but still has freshness and crunchiness.

Rinse the leaves with cold water a couple times to remove the salt that has done it's work.

Drain the cabbage well.

Mixing up the seasoning paste (garlic, Korean red chili flakes, and fish sauce) separately just makes it a little easier to spread it uniformly over the leaves.

Massage the seasoning paste into the leaves along with green onions, if using.

The red chili flakes will stain your hands, so use a food safe glove. Kimchi is traditionally mixed by hand, rather than with tongs.

Check for seasoning, and then you can eat right away or package for storage.

Hint: Leave the kimchi covered at room temperature overnight. This will help speed the fermentation process before longer term storage in the fridge.

Variations

The possibilities really are endless with kimchi, but here are some classic additions.

• Sugar - Anything from a pinch to a full teaspoon won't make the kimchi taste sweet, but it will offset some of the pungent raw garlic and chili flakes.
• Fresh Ginger - Fresh grated ginger will add another dimension of pepperiness and spiciness.
• Fresh Chili - To increase the chili heat, add minced fresh red or green chilis like jalapeno, fresno, or serrano.
• Grated Daikon and Carrot - Little slivers of these vegetables folded into the cabbage add texture and more crunch.
• Sliced Onion - Not super traditional, but onion goes really well with green vegetables. You could substitute this if you don't have green onion.
• Sesame Seeds - These tiny seeds really do pack in a little punch of nutty flavor.
• Sesame oil, Rice vinegar - Since fresh kimchi doesn't have the benefit of sour flavors from fermenting, drizzling on some rice vinegar helps mimic sour flavors, and sesame oil just tastes good on everything.

Kimchi is alive, and it likes to breathe.

While fresh kimchi is meant to be eaten right away or within a few days, you can also store if for a couple weeks to let it naturally ferment and develop that trademark sour flavor.

• Pack the kimchi tightly into a container.  You want to avoid contact with the air and submerge it in its own juice, so it doesn't develop mold on the on top.
• Avoid an air tight seal on the container, otherwise it's prone to explode from the bubbles released by the fermentation process. If using a mason jar, screw on the top very lightly.
• Depending on how cold your fridge is, the kimchi will ferment in its own time.  Generally, after a week it will begin to have the fermented sour flavor.
• At a certain point, it will overferment and get too sour to eat by itself.  Then you can cook it in soups, stews, or fried rice.