Of Cabbages and Kimchi: A Practical Guide to the World of Fermented Food

Product Information

You can use other types of cabbage in kimchi such as green, savoy, red or other greens like Swiss chard or Bok choy. The flavor and texture will be different from traditional kimchi made with Napa cabbage but is still delicious.

Put green cabbage kimchi in a container and let it ferment at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for few days. Refer to my No Crazy Kimchi post for more detailed info on fermentation. Spicy kimchi: Increase the gochugaru in the recipe or use gochugaru that’s labeled medium or hot to make your batch. You can taste the chili paste as you are making it to see if it is spicy.What’s the fish sauce for? Kimchi often has a seafood component like fish sauce, oysters, squid, or salted shrimp paste. It’s added for umami, a rich, savory flavor. We keep Red Boat fish sauce in our kitchen, so that’s what we use, but if you have access to a Korean market, you can buy Korean fish sauce. There are over a hundred traditional Korean kimchi recipes. Kimchi can be made with many different types of vegetables.

Named after the coastal city of Si Racha in Thailand, where it originates, this spicy, tangy sauce is made from red chilli peppers, garlic, vinegar, salt and sugar. It is widely used a s a dipping sauce or condiment in Thai and Vietnamese cuisines. Find it in specialist Asian food stores, larger Marks & Spencer and Tesco stores, or online. Wash and clean green onions and chives. Cut green onions and chives into similar length pieces (2 in or so) and set aside. Green Cabbage (the regular kind used to make coleslaw) kimchi appeared pretty recently in the Korean food scene, probably because many Koreans who lived outside of Korea could not get any authentic Korean Cabbage (Celery Cabbage is the exact one but Napa Cabbage is very close). I first tasted cabbage kimchi in 1976 when we moved to India. With no access to any kind of Korean vegetable, the only vegetable we could get was the good old cabbage. I actually did not like it as a kid. I thought it only made me miss the real Korean kimchi more. But now, I actually like it and enjoy it. There’s a lightness in flavor to Green Cabbage Kimchi that makes it go better with some foods than regular kimchi which can sometimes overpower other dishes. Gochugaru: Korean red chili powder or flakes add heat, flavor, and vibrant red color to kimchi. We used Mother In Law’s Gochugaru in our photos since it is commonly available in local grocery stores. You can also find Gochugaru sold in International/Korean markets. If you have the choice between hot or mild, choose mild since you can add more and make your kimchi more vibrant without making it too spicy (tip from Maangchi). Wear plastic gloves (or your hand will be smelling of kimchi all day) and mix everything together really well. Mix things lightly – trying not to damage the vegetables.Koreans use coarse sea salt (aka Korean brining salt) for salting vegetables to make kimchi. It’s natural salt with a coarse texture that was minimally processed. However, if Korean sea salt is unavailable, use your normal kitchen salt. If using finer salt, you’ll need to use less than what’s called for in the recipe. the cabbage is wilted, rinse it well under cold water (I rinse 2 to 3 times). Then, set the cabbage aside to drain for 20 to 30 minutes (or use a salad spinner to remove most of the water). Keep the kimchi out at room temperature for a few hours or overnight before storing it in the fridge. You can start eating yangbaechu kimchi right away, but it’ll taste better over a couple of weeks in the fridge. Because it’s lightly seasoned, it’s best consumed within 3 to 4 weeks.