Easy Homemade Kimchi - w/o buying a lot of stuff

Easy Homemade Kimchi - w/o buying a lot of stuff

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

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Korean

Keyword cabbage

Prep Time 4

Calories 21kcal

Author Agile Test Kitchen

Ingredients

3 lb napa cabbage, about 1 medium sized head or 9-10 cups chopped cut into 2" pieces
3 Tb Korean red chili flakes
3 Tb fish sauce
1/2 ea sliced onion
3 ea green onion cut into 2" pieces
2 Tb garlic minced
2 Tb ginger minced

Saltwater Brine

1/3 c coarse Korean sea salt or kosher salt
4 c water

Instructions

Mix together the saltwater brine until salt is dissolved.
Thoroughly mix napa cabbage with the salt water brine. Let sit for at 2-4 hours until the cabbage has reduced in volume by at least 1/3. Drain and rinse napa cabbage under running water to rid of excess salt.
Thoroughly mix drained, salted cabbage with the remaining ingredients. Taste and adjust with fish sauce, sugar, and chili flakes if needed for more flavor.
Package into jars, cover, and let sit at room temperature overnight. Refrigerate and eat up to 1-2 months.

Notes

3 lb of Napa cabbage yields about 9-10 cups once chopped. After seasoning and salting, this recipe yields about 5 cups of kimchi.
The onion and green onion are optional. If you prefer not to use them, reduce the fish sauce to 3 Tb. I use them because they are common ingredients that might be sitting in your kitchen.

Nutrition