This is a home made Kimchi recipe. I normally buy my Kimchi from the Korean Store in Manchester but it can be a bit expensive considering the ingredients so I had a go at making my own.
It’s actually very simple to make but you need good equipment and you also need to make sure that you wash the cabbage in boiled (then cooled) water. I normally wash under the tape first then wash with boiled (and cooled) water.
Fish sauce is an essential ingredient. If you can’t get fish sauce then lok for anchovy sauce which my wife tells me is a good substitute. The only times I’ve failed to get this right is when I didn’t wash the cabbage properly and when I didn’t use the proper ingredients. The rest is fairly easy.
A good glass weight is important to keep the cabbage under the fluid when fermenting but regularly opening the fermenting jar and pushing the cabbage down will work just as well – make sure to do this every 12 hours though.
The result is actually better that the store bought stuff and you can add different ingredients such as carrots, radishes etc. It’s great fun to do and I highly recommend it.
Good luck!
Napa Kimchi
Equipment
- 1 1.5 Litre Jar Must be sealable
- 1 Glass weight Or small dish to keep cabbage submerged
Ingredients
- 3 Chinese leaf or Napa cabbage
- 3 tbsp 20g fine sea salt
- 50 g Korean red pepper powder up to 75g if you like it very spicy
- 150 g fish sauce
- 150 ml water
- 3 tbsp 45g ginger, peeled & grated
- 3 tbsp 45g garlic, grated
- 12 spring onions finely sliced
Instructions
- Slice the Napa cabbage into 1″ squares and separate the leaves. Mix well with 3 tbsp salt until evenly covered, and leave to sit at room temperature for 1.5-2 hours. Toss every 15-20 minutes. The cabbage will reduce in volume, release water and soften.
- Next wash away the salt: fill the bowl cabbage bowl with cold water and then drain. Repeat several times.
- In a separate bowl, mix the red pepper powder with the fish sauce, water, ginger, garlic and spring onion and pour over the cabbage. Massage into the cabbage well for a minute using your hands. The cabbage will release some more liquid, but try not to bruise it.
- Move the cabbage mixture into a clean 3 litre clip-top jar. Press down well with a clean fork or your fingers to remove air bubbles, pushing the cabbage beneath the liquid. To help keep the cabbage submerged you could also place a tiny sauce-dish inside the jar pressing on the cabbage.
- Close the lid and leave at room temperature to ferment for 48 hours (at around 20 degrees Centigrade). Whilst the cabbage is at room temperature, you must open the jar every 12-24 hours to release any gas build up and push the cabbage back under the liquid.
- After 48 hours your kimchi will be ready to eat!
- Move it to the fridge, and consume within a few weeks.