How To Make Kimchi (My Mom's Famous Spicy Kimchi Recipe!

• Produce

  • 1 Apple
  • 4 Carrots, large
  • 1 Diakon radish (about 1 1/2 pounds, large
  • 1 whole head Garlic
  • 4 oz Ginger, fresh
  • 1 1/2 cups Korean chili flakes, hot
  • 2 heads Napa cabbage
  • 2 bunches Scallions

• Baking & Spices

  • 1 cup Sea salt

• Liquids

  • 1/3 cup Distilled or spring water
  • 2 cups Spring or distilled water

• Other

  • clean mason jars (I use 8 of THESE jars

Found on primallyinspired.com

Description

Ingredients

• 2 heads Napa cabbage (about 6 pounds total)
• 1 cup sea salt
• 2 cups spring or distilled water
• 1 large diakon radish (about 1½ pounds), peeled
• 4 large carrots (about ¾ pound total)
• 1 apple, peeled and core removed (dont leave the apple out! The apple provides sugar for the bacteria to eat so it can ferment properly)
• 2 bunches of scallions, chopped
• 1 whole head of garlic, peeled
• 4 ounces fresh ginger
• 1½ cups hot Korean chili flakes (found in Asian markets or online. I use THESE)
• optional: 1 teaspoon fish sauce (I use THIS)
• optional: pinch or two (or three!) of dried red pepper flakes. The more pinches, the spicier! I typically use 2 pinches - about 1 teaspoon.
• ⅓ cup additional distilled or spring water
• clean mason jars (I use 8 of THESE jars)

Directions

• Cut your cabbage in one inch (bite size) pieces and place it in 2 very large bowls.
• Add ½ cup sea salt and 1 cup of water to each bowl and toss with your hands to coat.
• Let the cabbage sit for one hour, tossing every 20 minutes. Youll start to see the cabbage releasing liquid and shrinking in size - thats exactly what we want!
• While the cabbage is sitting, shred your radish, carrots and apple in a food processor. If you dont have a food processor, you can chop them in small pieces. Set aside.
• In a food processor, process the garlic and ginger until smooth.
• Fold in your Korean hot chili flakes, red pepper flakes (if using) and fish sauce (if using) and ⅓ cup water. Stir until it becomes a paste. Set aside.
• After the cabbage has sat for 1 hour, rinse it very well with cold water and then strain the water. Rinse and strain for a total of 3 times. Rinsing and straining 3 times is important because you want to wash away most of the salt or it will be way too salty!
• Place your rinsed cabbage in one of your very large bowls (it should all fit in one bowl now).
• Add the radish, carrot, scallions and apple and your hot chili/garlic/ginger paste.
• With gloves on your hands (important!), toss everything together making sure that the paste coats all the veggies well.
• Add the kimchi to your mason jars packing it in tightly. Make sure to leave at least 2 inches of headroom (the kimchi will expand as it ferments). Close the lids to your jars. This recipe usually makes about 8-10 pint size jars.
• Close the lids on your jars and let them sit for 3-5 days.
• You must burp the jars once a day during these 3-5 days. You do that by quickly opening the jar and then closing it. Youll hear gas releasing - just like what it sounds like when you open a soda. That is normal and a good sign! You should see small bubbles in your jar, too. And if you hold the opened jar to your ears, youll also hear it fizzing. Thats like music to a fermenters ears 🙂
• After 3 days, give your kimchi a taste. If it tastes tangy and fizzy, that means your kimchi is finished and you can move your jars to the fridge. They will last about a year in the fridge. If you dont taste that tanginess, let your kimchi sit for a few more days.