Napa Cabbage Kimchi

At last, I mastered the art of making napa cabbage kimchi!  Or something like that.  For years, I've tried to make my own kimchi at home and it always turned out mediocre.  Then I finally found a recipe that sounds close to the real deal and I tried making it.  I was really happy with the results.  Now I'll never have to buy expensive kimchi and I can make extra to share with family and friends!

This recipe uses the whole cabbage fermenting method.  I wanted to make it easier to serve and mix with the kimchi paste so I cut the cabbage into bite-sized pieces before brining it.  I skipped the first five steps and followed the instructions from her Easy Napa Cabbage Kimchi recipe instead.

Napa Cabbage Kimchi
From Aeri's Kitchen

Main Ingredients:
1 large napa cabbage (4 lb)
2 cups Korean radish
1 cup garlic chives
5 green onions
3/4 onion
2 hot peppers

Brine Ingredients:
10 cups Water
½ cup coarse sea salt (for salt water)
⅔ cup coarse sea salt (for sprinkling)

Sauce Ingredients:
2 cups water + (3 T water and 3 T sweet rice flour)
¼ sweet apple + ¼ onion
1¼ cup coarse red pepper powder
1 - 2 T sugar
¼ - ⅓ cup fish sauce
3 T garlic, minced
½ T ginger, minced
½ T salt
2 T sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Remove any bad parts from the napa cabbage.
2. Divide the napa cabbage into 4 pieces. 
3. In a huge bowl, combine 10 cups of water and ½ cup coarse sea salt to make salt water. Stir until the salt is dissolved.
4. Prepare ⅔ cup coarse sea salt. Divide the salt evenly for 4 pieces of cabbage. Sprinkle the salt inside each leaf. Put more salt on the thicker parts than the thinner parts. This step is important to make kimchi. The right amount of salt and time to marinate the cabbage will change the results of your kimchi.
5. Dip the cabbage in the salt water. Put something heavy (like a big pan full of water) on top of the cabbage to keep them under the brine. That will help the cabbage to get salted better. Leave it for 4 to 5 hours until the cabbage leaves become a little soft.
6. Rinse the salted cabbage twice in water.
7. Drain the water, and set it aside for about 2 hours until more of the water drips out or you can squeeze the water out.
8. Mix 3 T of sweet rice flour and 3 T of water.
9. In a pan add the mixture and 2 cups of water. Boil it until it makes bubbles on medium. Keep stirring it so that it will not stick to the bottom.
10. Cut the radish very thinly into 2-inch lengths.
11. Cut 5 green onions the same length as the radish.
12. Cut the garlic chives into 1½-inch pieces.
13. Cut 2 hot peppers thinly and slice ¾ of an onion thinly.
14. Grind ¼ of an onion and ¼ of a sweet apple.
15. In a big bowl, add the rice flour mixture, 1¼ cup of red pepper powder, and 2 cups of radish. Mix everything together.
16. Add the rest of the ingredients: chopped onion, hot peppers, garlic chives, green onion, onion & apple mixture, 1-2 T sugar, ¼ - ⅓ cups fish sauce, 3 T minced garlic, ½ T minced ginger, and 2 T sesame seeds. Mix all of the ingredients well. Taste it and adjust taste, adding more salt if needed.
17. Spread some of the mixture into each leaf of the cabbage. Make sure all of the surfaces get covered in the sauce.
18. Put the kimchi in a glass jar or container. Keep the kimchi at room temperature for about a day, then put it in the refrigerator. It will take several days to a week until it is properly fermented depending on your refrigerator’s temperature.

Eat your kimchi with rice or as a side.  I made kimchi fried rice because it's so easy and simple to make.  All you need is chopped kimchi, overnight rice, green onions, kochujang, sesame oil, and a fried egg.  Sometimes I like to add spam to my kimchi fried rice.  So ono!