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If you are asking yourself, "What is Kimchi?", you will have a pretty good idea by the end of this recipe, but for a really great introduction to the history and culture of Korean pickled vegetables, I highly reccommend checking out http://www.kimchi.or.kr/eng/main.jsp. There you will find dozens of recipes and articles about Kimchi and its part in traditional Korean life.
 I have been making my own kimchi at home for several years now, and I have tried many different recipes and vegetables, but for this one, I just wanted to go back to the most basic of ingredients and make a batch with just cabbage, red pepper, garlic, and salt. If you visited the site above, you'd soon find that this doesn't even qualify as Kimchi by Korean standards, as I have left out three main ingredients: radish, ginger, and green onion. I normally include these, but I wanted to see what it would taste like without them, and wanted to keep this tutorial as simple and basic as possible.
Make your own Kimchi
The Ingredients:
1 napa cabbage 6-7 small cloves garlic, peeled
 
1/2 cup coarse kosher salt 1/3 cup Korean red pepper flakes
 
(optional- and not pictured in this tutorial)
5-6 green onion sprigs
1 small daikon radish
1 tbl crushed ginger
Step 1
Wash the cabbage and cut into strips about 1 1/2 inch wide
If there end up being very large pieces of the stem end, I usually cut these into halves or thirds also, just to make sure that the final product will be bite sized pieces.
Do the same to any optional vegetables that you would like to add. When adding radish, I usually julienne these into very thin matchsticks.
Step 2
Place the sliced cabbage (and optional vegetables) into a large bowl and sprinkle with the salt. Toss the cabbage as you distribute the salt to spread it as evenly as possible throughout the cabbage.
Add enough water to cover the vegetables, cover with a plate or lid to keep everthing submerged and let the cabbage soak in the salty water for at least 2 hours. (I usually do this the night before, and finish the process the next morning) For this tutorial I think I waited about 3 hours...
This soaking starts the fermentation process.
Step 3
Drain most but not all of the salty water off, but do not rinse. You want to leave a little bit of the water clinging to the leaves.
You can see that the cabbage has already released a lot of moisture and has decreased in volume considerably.
Step 4
Crush the garlic and chop into a fine mince (and the ginger too if you are using it)
I decided to go the easy route and use my garlic crusher.
Step 5
Add the red pepper flakes, garlic (and ginger) to the soaked cabbage.
About the red pepper flakes.
This may be the hardest ingredient to find. I usually get it at the little Korean supermarket across town. It lasts a long time though, so even if you have to make a special trip, you don't have to go again for a while.
Sprinkle the pepper over the cabbage, add the crushed garlic (and ginger) and stir to combine.
Step 6
Pack the fresh kimchi into a big jar. You need a jar with some head room because the vegetables are going to release a LOT of liquid. If the jar is too small, it will overflow.
Step 7
You CAN eat it right away, but to get that hot & sour kimchi taste, place the jar into a cool dark place and wait... (it will take 3-5 days at least for enough lactic acid to develop to reach the right amount of sourness)
I usually taste it every few days. Feel free to call it done as soon as it tastes right to you!
Step 8
As the kimchi ferments bubbles will form and the cabbage will rise to the top. Smash the cabbage back down into the liquid as best as possible.
before after
 
Step 9
It is Done!
When you are happy with the taste, stop the rapid fermentation by placing the kimchi in the refrigerator.
Sometimes I stop it at day 3 or 4. For this batch it was on Day 7 that I was satisfied with the taste of my Kimchi. I don't usually like to let it go more than a week, because here in California where it is warm, I have had my Kimchi go moldy in the cubbard if left too long. In Korea where they bury the Kimchi in special pens in the back yard to ferment, it can last for the entire winter!
Since my kimchi had reduced in volume (all on it's own- not from me eating it all week!) I transferred it to a new jar and put it in the refrigerator. It will last a few weeks, but it will continue to ferment even in the cold, so it is best to eat it right away.
Step 10
Enjoy!
So what can you do with your new batch of homemade kimchi?
Well, I like to eat it by itself as a snack. I also like to make Korean BBQ ribs and serve it as a side-dish. In Korea, no meal is complete without an assortment of Kimchis to go with it.
I also like to make Korean hot pot soup and add the Kimchi right in the soup.
Here is a photo and recipe from the Korean Kimchi website above
and another recipe from the Korean Cultural Center of Los Angeles
Kimchi is really easy to make and can be done with all kinds of vegetables. I have done this exact same process with cucumbers and they come out nice as well and in less time, but this spicy Korean pickle recipe is even better!  If you get a chance, try them out!
UPDATE! Well it's a month later and I finally polished off my kimchi. It kept really well in the refrigerator in my mason jar for the entire month. I polished off the last little bit by making my own batch of kimchi chigae. It was yummy :) 
-cris
|
Kimchi Recipe
Written by Guest on 2006-04-21 12:17:22
What a great Kimchi recipe and great pics too! I love kimchi and used to make it but I lost my recipe and could never get the ingredients right to make it taste like I remembered it. Kimchi at the grocery is just to expensive. I'm going home to make some this weekend. Yayyy!!!
BTW, I love this website. I love anything pickeled and I adore jerky. I can't wait to see what else this site has to offer. I'm in heaven!!
Thanks again!
~dove  | Thanks, Dove :)
Written by kimncris on 2006-04-21 13:14:23
Thanks Dove!
I am really interested in how your Kimchi turns out. Let us know!
The best thing about making food yourself is you can add and subtract whatever you want to make it taste right to you 
If you like pickles, please try my Grandma's recipe. (it's on the front page) I think you will really like them.
-cris
| Homemade kimchi
Written by Guest on 2006-04-23 17:55:22
Your recipe looks real good iam going to try it.i used to have it on ships that came from south korea when in port of Wilmington,Delaware i love it and its very good for your heart thanx and peace...lou | Written by kimncris on 2006-04-23 22:22:17
thanks, Lou.
Let me know how it turns out!
-cris
| Written by Guest on 2006-05-05 08:41:07
I'm looking forward to trying this dish. Another side dish I see in Korean resturants is a sweet/pickled vegitable that looks like sliced turnips or maybe sliced radishes. Do you have a recipe for that?
TIA
Jim | Written by kimncris on 2006-05-05 10:42:13
Hi Jim,
Thanks I have made those radish pickles before using this same recipe, and also have made this recipe without adding the red pepper which is also very yummy.
For the radishes they have in the restaurant that are sometimes shredded into long strings, I think I made those with daikon marinated in vinager. Let me see if I can find some recipes.
-cris
| Musangchae
Written by kimncris on 2006-05-05 10:57:49
Hi Jim, I think the dish you are referring to is called Musangchae.
Here's one I found on the internet including red pepper, but I bet it would be just as good with just the radish, vinager, salt and sugar.
If I were going to make this, I'd mix the marinade until it tasted good to me, and then marinate the radish in it for a few hours before serving.
It does not say what kind of vinegar, so I'd use rice wine vinegar.
Good luck! I'll try it too and post another story soon.
-cris
From: http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/STUDENTS/Hwang/recipes4.htm
Title: White Radish Salad ("Musangchae")
Yield: 1
Ingredients (4 servings)
1/2 Ib.whole Korean radish
1/2 tasp.red pepper powder, 1 tsp.salt, 1 tasp.sugar
1 green onion, 1 clove garlic, vinegar, lettuce
Methods
Peel the radish and cut it into really thin strips. Mix the radish strips with the red pepper powder.
Add the sugar, salt, red pepper threads, green onion and garlic to the mixture.
Sprinlkle the mixture with the vinegar and mix well.
Hint: when sprinkling salt, it is better squeeze out the water.
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/STUDENTS/Hwang/home.htm
| Coming back for more Kimchi
Written by tresdove on 2007-08-09 11:16:21
It's been awhile but the last batch of Kimchi I made from this recipe turned out delicious and spicy hot like I like it. I added the green onions and julienned carrots as my Korean friend taught me so many years ago. It set up perfectly and was ready to eat on day 4 but I have to admit I snuck bites throughout because I couldn't wait. It didn't last long in my fridge because I snacked on it relentlessly. I love adding it to my plain white rice or ramein noodles.
The hardest part is finding the red pepper flakes but I have found a Korean market close by and am headed there at lunch today to get a new supply. The pepper flakes do last a long time as indicated. My last batch of kimchi was made with pepper flakes dating back to 1991. Yep, they were still good and fiery hot just like they should be.
I liked putting the whole batch in one gallon glass jar and then when it was all done moving it to smaller glass containers in my fridge. My gallon jug is now my "kimchi pot"
Right now I have a batch of chopped cabbage soaking in a salt solution waiting for me to come home and finish up the process. I am going to try adding some other veggies this time and try it with a bit of grated ginger. I've never tried that before.
Thanks again for having this website to come back to when I feel the need to kimchi.  I'm going to try some jerky and pickle recipes too. Hopefully I won't be a stranger as long this time.
~dove | Written by kimncris on 2007-08-09 13:13:45
wow that's great to hear
I just made some pickes last week, so maybe its time to break out the old kimchi jar again! The ginger version will be good I bet. |
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