The Hubby and I love kimchi and after having some excellent homemade kimchi at a local Korean restaurant, I wanted to try my hand at making it.
I dug up a recipe from Feasting at Home and gave it a try. It was so easy and with a little bit of patience while you wait for it to ferment (it really doesn’t take that long) and you can have your own kimchi too! I did find that the kimchi wasn’t spicy enough, so I’m going to work on the recipe as I add/modify ingredients.
I found the recipe at Feasting at Home had a couple of good tips:
- The ideal temperature for fermenting kimchi 55-65 degrees. 65 F is perfect!
- The cooler it is, the slower it will take to ferment. The warmer, the faster.
As mentioned before, it wasn’t quite as spicy as I liked, but I only had the gojuchang paste on hand. I am going to pick up some of the gochugaru chili flakes and combine both. I’ll modify the recipe if I find it works out better!
I picked up a fermentation kit for cheap as it had the weighted pucks, airlocks, and tamper.
Kimchi
Ingredients
- 2 pounds napa cabbage cored and cut into 1-inch pieces (one large cabbage)
- ¼ cup sea salt*
- 2 cups daikon radish cut into matchstick strips
- 2 tablespoons fresh ginger roughly chopped( 2-3 disks, peels ok)
- 1 small head of garlic whole
- 1 shallot quartered
- 6 tablespoons gojuchang paste
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce more to taste
- 1 tablespoon dried shrimp
- 2 teaspoons sugar
Instructions
- Remove the outer leaves.
- Cut the remaining cabbage into 1 inch pieces and place in a large bowl, layered with the salt and toss.
- Add enough cool water to cover the cabbage and stir until salt is dissolved.
- Keep the cabbage submerged with a plate over the bowl and a weight to hold it down and let stand at room temperature 6-8 hours (giving a stir midway through if possible) or overnight.
- Reserving the brine, drain the cabbage.
- Squeeze out excess water and place in a large bowl.
- Add the sliced daikon.
- Place the remaining ingredients in a food processor and pulse until a paste is formed.
- PUT ON SOME GLOVES and then massage and mix the paste with the cabbage.
- Scoop into 1L clean pickle jars. Packing down tightly.
- Top with a pickling puck.
- Slowly top off the kimchi with the reserved brine until just covered.
- Place a silicone airlock and loosely top with a canning ring.
- Let sit for 2 - 3 days somewhere dark and warm, placing the jars in a small pan to catch any of the overflowing juices. Squeeze the vent every couple days to release pressure.
- Check for desired tangyness and if not quite tangy enough, let sit for another 2-3 days.
- Remove the puck and airlock, top with a lid and put in the fridge, where it will keep for months!
Notes
- After 3 days. Tap the jar to see if any bubbles rise to the top- indicating that it is fermenting.
- Taste the kimchi for tanginess.
- Continue to ferment for 2-3 more days if you want it tangier or softer, then place in the fridge.
- Once you have it in the fridge, taste again. It will continue to ferment but at a much slower rate. It will develop more flavor and complexity over the next two weeks in the fridge, and the spice level will mellow with time!
