Easy Korean Napa Cabbage Kimchi

If you love kimchi just like me, I will share with you my Easy Korean Napa Cabbage Kimchi Recipe today. Kimchi is a fermented vegetable that staple in all Korean households and restaurant menus. This recipe is delicious, crisp, and sour flavor from the fermentation process.

Kimchi using napa cabbage is easy to make at home, even for beginners! All you need is a few simple ingredients and a little bit of patience while it ferments. The good news is you can also eat the kimchi right away without the fermentation process.

I'm lucky enough that I am surrounded with Korean friends and neighboors. My Korean friends showed me the proper way of making authentic kimchi. It is the best and flavorful kimchi ever!

If you like more kimchi recipes, be sure to check out my Bok choy kimchi, Green onion kimchi, Perilla leaves kimchi, and Mustard greens kimchi.

Ingredients

• Napa Cabbage - This vegetable is the most popular and most versatile to make kimchi.
• Fermented Salted Shrimp - It gives a salty flavor and helps to ferment the kimchi properly with this salt. You can find this in Asian Stores abroad. I usually find this at any Korean Store near me such as H-mart.
• Korean red chili flakes - You can find Korean red chili flakes also known as gochugaru in Asian Supermarkets. You need to use the red pepper flakes, not the red pepper powder.
• Rice flour - It creates a glue-like consistency that serves as a binder and adds flavor. You can use regular rice flour or glutinous rice flour. You can also substitute this with leftover white rice instead. You must blend them using a food processor. The rice slurry provides sugar for fermentation.
• Apple - Give sweetness to balance the salt. It also helps in the fermentation process. You can use ripe pear or skip this completely.
• Garlic, onion, and ginger - Adds aroma and big flavor. Use fresh aromatics for the best flavor.
• Salt - Refined salt, kosher salt, or sea salt works! Whatever salt you have on hand is completely fine. We will use salt to help the cabbage wilt.

Other add-in ingredients are carrots and green onions

Instructions

Slice the cabbage

• Using a sharp knife and a large cutting board, cut the cabbage in half.
• Do the same for each half to make quarters.
• Cut the hard part in the bottom of the cabbage.
• Cut the cabbage in 1-2 inches long.

Salt the cabbage

• Transfer the cabbage to a large bowl. Be sure that the bowl is extra large to have room for mixing.
• Add the salt and massage the cabbage with your clean hands.
• Pour enough water to submerge all the cabbage slices. Mix the cabbage every 30 minutes. Do this for 2-4 hours. The more salt you put, the faster for the cabbage to wilt.
• Check the cabbage if it is ready by grabbing a white part of the leaves. If it is not hard to bend and it is wilted, then it's ready. It's okay to have a bit of resistance.
• Rinse thoroughly 3 times to remove all the salt, especially between the white parts.
• Drain well all the excess water.

Pro Tip: Salting the cabbage first draws out excess moisture and wilts it slightly to make packing and fermenting easier. Be generous with salt to make this process quicker.

Prepare the kimchi paste

• Make the rice flour paste by dissolving the rice flour in a ½ cup of water in a small saucepan. Stir frequently and cook it on medium heat until the liquid becomes thick. Remove from the heat and let it cool.
• In a food processor or blender, combine the peeled and sliced apple, ginger, garlic, and onion. Pulse and blend until smooth. Be sure to remove the seeds from the apple.
• Add the prepared rice flour paste, salted fermented shrimp, and Korean red pepper flakes (gochugaru).
• Blend everything until smooth and consistent just like a paste. Taste the paste and check if you need to adjust it. If the paste is too salty, you can add brown sugar or more apples to balance the saltiness.

Combine all the ingredients

• Cut the carrots into matchstick size and cut the green onion in 2 inches long.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the red kimchi paste, carrots, and green onions. Be sure to coat the vegetables well.
• Add the prepared kimchi to the bowl.
• Using your clean hands or gloves, mix everything well. Make sure that the napa cabbage is well coated with the paste.

Transfer the napa cabbage kimchi to a clean mason glass jar or fermentation container. Pack the kimchi mixture tightly into the containers, pressing out any air pockets. Leave about 1 inch of space on the top. Cover with a lid.

Let your kimchi ferment to room temperature for 2-5 days. After a few days, check and taste if it's ripe and fermented already. You can leave it longer on the countertop if you want a more tangy and sour kimchi. For me, 2 days is enough and I love that the kimchi is still crispy just like a salad.

Helpful Tips

• Use clean utensils and containers to make and store kimchi to eliminate bad bacteria entering the kimchi.
• Make sure to spread the kimchi paste over the cabbage leaves to avoid mold and bad bacteria.
• If you are looking for recipes to use kimchi, check out my Kimchi Tuna Fried Rice.

Storage Tips

Store kimchi for a very long time in the refrigerator for about a year! Once it is fermented at room temperature for 2-5 days, you can move the kimchi to the back of the refrigerator to store. Kimchi will continue to ferment slowly in the refrigerator. Be sure to check from time to time if the cabbage is fully submerged in liquid to avoid it from creating mold. It will last up to a year when stored properly.

Kimchi pairs well with steamed rice and other Korean side dishes. We love serving it with grilled pork belly, pork, and beef bulgogi. When I have ripe kimchi in the fridge, I make Kimchi Tuna Fried Rice and Korean Soybean Sprout with Kimchi Soup. There's so much you can do with your kimchi.

Why You Will Love This

• Fermented vegetables such as kimchi have so many health benefits. According to PubMed kimchi is rich in probiotics which is good for your gut and overall health. Check out my Pineapple Tepache if you are also looking for a fermented cold drink.
• Korean Kimchi is a delicious and flavorful dish that is perfect as a side dish. It has different flavors such as sweet, salty, and tangy. When the kimchi is fully developed and has been fermenting for a long time it will turn sour which I love.

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