Napa cabbage kimchi

I've been making a lot of Napa cabbage kimchi these days, trying to see if I can recreate my mother's paechu kimchi.



The first batch of cabbage kimchi I made was way too salty. I put in too much salted shrimp for 1 head of cabbage. The second batch was forgettable. The third batch was bland because I hadn't salted the cabbage overnight. Finally, I made the kimchi in bulk with 3 heads of cabbage, allowing the cabbage to disgorge overnight and letting the kimchi sauce meld during that time. The next day, I mixed the spicy sauce with cabbage and scallions and the kimchi tasted good already. 

Kimchi doesn't always point straight to cabbage. The term refers to the pickling of vegetables. Koreans pickle daikon radish, cucumbers, bok choy and other vegetables.

Living in Wisconsin, my mother made kimchi with ingredients she got from a mainstream grocery store and the lone Asian grocery store in town that catered to Hmong immigrants. I'd eat kimchi at a Korean restaurant and think it's too fresh or it's too sweet, and I'd crave my mother's.

Now, all these years later, I find out from my mom how simple her recipe is. It's not overly spicy. The kimchi sauce just has onion, garlic, ginger, salted shrimp and kochukaru (Korean red pepper powder). Others might use Korean anchovy sauce or fish sauce and throw in carrots, daikon radish, watercress, mustard greens or chives.

I might experiment later, but I just wanted to get my mother's recipe right.

Napa cabbage kimchi
By Jenny Lee-Adrian

Makes about 4-5 quarts
3 medium Napa cabbage
6 tablespoons kochukaru (Korean red pepper powder)
12 cloves garlic, peeled
3 teaspoons fresh ginger, peeled; (just cut 3 round slices off a ginger root)
1/4 medium yellow onion or about 6 tablespoons
3/8 cup salted shrimp or to your taste
150 ml water, plus more if needed
sea salt or kosher salt
1 bunch scallions, cut into 2-inch lengths

Turn each Napa cabbage upside down. Make an incision through the core and then pry open the cabbage with your hands.


Cut each cabbage half cross-wise in two-inch widths. Wash the cabbage in a sink filled with water. Spin dry. In a large bowl, drop handfuls of cabbage in one layer. Sprinkle salt over the layer. Add more cabbage and sprinkle more salt. Disgorge overnight. Keep in the refrigerator.

The cabbage will wilt.

Meanwhile, make the kimchi sauce. Mix kochukaru, garlic, ginger, onion and salted shrimp in a blender. Add 150 ml water (about 50 ml per medium Napa cabbage) and mix. The sauce should look like bright red sludge. Cover and refrigerate.



Red sludge

In the morning, taste the cabbage. It should taste salty. Rinse the cabbage of excess salt. Rinse again if you think the cabbage is too salty. Drain for about 15 minutes. Cut the scallions and set aside.



Take out your kimchi sauce and taste it. Adjust seasoning. Then mix the sauce, scallions and cabbage in a large bowl with gloved hands.

Pack the kimchi in glass jars or stainless steel containers. Pour in any excess sauce to cover the kimchi. (Add more water if needed to cover the kimchi.) Seal jars. Store kimchi containers in a dark place at room temperature for 24-48 hours before placing in the refrigerator. After four days, check on the kimchi and taste. (You can eat the kimchi right after you make it, but I prefer kimchi that has fermented for 2-3 weeks.)


Variations:
Add julienned carrots, watercress, mustard greens, Asian pears and Korean chives.
Others use Korean anchovy sauce instead of salted shrimp.

A couple notes:
*Kochukaru is pronounced goh-chu kah-roo with a rolled "r." Korean red pepper powder can be coarse or fine. Use either kind.
*Salted shrimp is pretty stinky. When you buy a jar, it may leak. That's why I transfer the salted shrimp into a glass jar and stick it in the freezer.

Print recipe