Fiery. Cleansing. Delicious. Healthy…Kim Chi
Add to your favorites
Found in:

Ingredients

2 head Napa Cabbage
1½ cup Sea Salt/Himalayan Salt
1 head Garlic
2 tablespoon Ginger, Grated
1 head Scallion
1 cup Dried Red Pepper Flakes (Coarse)

Recipe Directions

Make V-cuts in the bottom of your cabbage in order to get the core out. After that you can chop (or not chop) the cabbage however you would like. I prefer 1 inch X 2 inch strips. Fill a big reservoir with about 8-10 cups of pure yummy water and mix in the salt to make a nice brine. Place the Cabbage in the brine and make sure it is all submerged. Work the cabbage in the brine for a few minutes. Put some love into the cabbage! Cover and let soak for 4 hours. While you wait you can prepare the pepper paste. Peel the garlic and throw it in the food processor with the ginger, scallion, and red pepper. Whiz it up (add a little water if need be) and tah-dah you have a wonderful spicy paste. Drain the Cabbage and rinse atleast once to get any excess salt off. Now comes the most fun…Dump the paste on top of the cabbage and work it into the leaves. You may want to start with a little less paste and add more as you go, too much paste can throw the final product off balance. Massage the cabbage with the paste and spread everything around evenly, it’s ok if a little bit of water and juice come out of the leaves, they’ll just contribute to the overall lactobacilli juice. Once that is all mixed up get a big sealable jar (that is sterilized!). Stuff the seasoned cabbage into the jar. Ideally you want to have a jar that is just barely big enough to hold all the cabbage. I don’t have the exact size of the one I use at home, but I will find out and post. Stuff the cabbage in, really really stuff it. This process is anaerobic so you want as little oxygen as possible in the jar. Seal the jar and let sit at room temperature for 3-4 days. Throughout the fermentation the jar might talk to you a little bit with burps and squeals, don’t worry it’s doing what it needs to. After a few days check the contents, if you know what kim chi tastes like then you will know if it’s done. If you have never had kim chi before it is difficult to explain exactly what good fermented kim chi tastes like…it is rather indescribable. Enjoy the love you put in!

MonsieurReality's Thoughts

By MonsieurReality

Fiery. Cleansing. Delicious. Healthy…Kim Chi

Print This Recipe (PDF)

Click the button below to download the printable PDF.

My Notes

You do not have any notes. Add some here. Notes are private and are only visible to you.

Add New Note

Similar Recipes

Comments

Top voted

MonsieurReality

May 17, 2010

34 votes
+
Vote up!
-
Vote down!

hmmm my roommate just made a big batch of sauerkraut and it also ended up a little dry...not exactly sure why...the most recent batch of kimchi i made is a bit dry but that is because so much juice ended up exploding out of the jar throughout the fermentation. I don't have the answer at this moment...perhaps more time with the sauerkraut? (BTW thos POM jars make great smoothie holders, my roommates and I use them all the time, they are so handy!) best wishes on your fermented foods! let me know how your kim chi goes if you make some

Marysia

May 17, 2010

34 votes
+
Vote up!
-
Vote down!

Thanks for this recipe! I love kim chi and its great to get a raw recipe for it! The stuff is soo good and sooo good for you! Yay! You know, I tried to make some raw sourkrout a while ago, and stuffed it like you said. It was juicy and bubbly, but now its really dry! And since its so dry, its kind of gross. Do you know what went wrong? Thanks!

erin

May 17, 2010

27 votes
+
Vote up!
-
Vote down!

Thanks for the recipe. I was in an Asian market yesterday and saw some kim chi, but it had sugar and MSG so I surely didn't get it. But I really wanted some. So this is perfect. Can't wait to try it!

All

Aug 07, 2011

24 votes
+
Vote up!
-
Vote down!

Suasoria's Review

Kim Chi
3
3 out of 5

This is really tasty. I used far less than the suggested amount of red pepper flakes and it's still very spicy. I think my only problem is I may not have rinsed the cabbage very well since it is very VERY salty still - so rinse rinse rinse, maybe even submerge in a bowl of clean water before mixing in the chili sauce.

Mine didn't bubble and didn't get the typical white film on the top even by day 4.

pianissima

May 21, 2010

22 votes
+
Vote up!
-
Vote down!

thanks for this! i LOVE kim chi.

erin

May 17, 2010

27 votes
+
Vote up!
-
Vote down!

Thanks for the recipe. I was in an Asian market yesterday and saw some kim chi, but it had sugar and MSG so I surely didn't get it. But I really wanted some. So this is perfect. Can't wait to try it!

Top Voted

MonsieurReality

May 17, 2010

34 votes
+
Vote up!
-
Vote down!

hmmm my roommate just made a big batch of sauerkraut and it also ended up a little dry...not exactly sure why...the most recent batch of kimchi i made is a bit dry but that is because so much juice ended up exploding out of the jar throughout the fermentation. I don't have the answer at this moment...perhaps more time with the sauerkraut? (BTW thos POM jars make great smoothie holders, my roommates and I use them all the time, they are so handy!) best wishes on your fermented foods! let me know how your kim chi goes if you make some

Top Voted

Marysia

May 17, 2010

34 votes
+
Vote up!
-
Vote down!

Thanks for this recipe! I love kim chi and its great to get a raw recipe for it! The stuff is soo good and sooo good for you! Yay! You know, I tried to make some raw sourkrout a while ago, and stuffed it like you said. It was juicy and bubbly, but now its really dry! And since its so dry, its kind of gross. Do you know what went wrong? Thanks!

Top Voted

Leave a Comment