Napa Cabbage Kimchi: Salt in the Thick Stems, Red Paste Between Every Leaf
Keep the cabbage leaves attached to the core, work the salt into the thick white stems, and spread the paste thinly over every single leaf. Then decide whether to eat it fresh or let it turn sour.
A whole napa cabbage is split from the root by hand, so the leaves stay joined at the base. Salt goes between the layers, heaviest on the thick white stems. Later, a red paste of gochugaru, garlic, fish sauce and salted shrimp, loosened with a cooled sweet rice flour porridge, is spread over each leaf in turn. Finally, every quarter is folded up in its own outer leaf.
This dish from Korea is tongbaechu-kimchi (통배추김치), the whole-cabbage napa kimchi that is very often simply called "kimchi." Rather than a jar from the shop, it is a dish you put together leaf by leaf in your own kitchen. The recipe below follows one set of proportions from start to finish. It uses 6 lb (about 2.7kg) of napa cabbage and makes about 8 lb (3.6kg) of kimchi.
The work comes in stages. The cabbage salts for 2 hours and is turned every 30 minutes. In the meantime, you cook the porridge and let it cool completely. Then you rinse and drain the cabbage, mix the paste, coat the leaves and pack them away. After that, the kimchi either goes straight to the table or waits while it ferments. How long the whole process takes depends on how fast the porridge cools, how long the cabbage drains and how warm your kitchen is, so plan for the stages rather than a set clock time.
Once it has turned well sour, napa cabbage kimchi carries on into other dishes, such as kimchi jjigae. It also sits beside rice dishes like bibimbap and gimbap.
The Kind of Kimchi Where the Cabbage Stays Whole
Tongbaechu-kimchi is napa cabbage kimchi made with the cabbage left in large, leaf-attached quarters. It is also called baechu-kimchi (배추김치) or pogi-kimchi (포기김치). It is a different recipe from mak-kimchi, where the cabbage is cut into pieces before it is seasoned. It also differs from kkakdugi, made with cubed radish, and from baek-kimchi, the white kimchi made without chili. Even with the same seasonings, cutting the cabbage first changes both the process and the finished result, so this article sticks to the whole-leaf form.
The Korea Tourism Organization (VISITKOREA) describes napa cabbage kimchi as the type most commonly meant by the word "kimchi," and as a side dish that appears on the Korean table at every meal. Kimchi itself, though, comes in many forms beyond cabbage. The proportions here are one recipe for one type, not a stand-in for kimchi as a whole.
Ingredients: One Recipe for About 8 lb (3.6kg) of Kimchi
The amounts below come from a single recipe and are listed in the units that recipe uses, with weights shown only where the recipe itself gives them. The recipe does not give a number of servings, so the table lists the finished amount of kimchi only.
This recipe contains fish sauce (fish) and saeujeot (salted shrimp, a crustacean shellfish). Check the ingredient labels of both, as well as the gochugaru and sweet rice flour, for allergens. Sweet rice flour is made from rice. Leaving out the fish sauce or saeujeot, or replacing them, makes a different recipe rather than an allergy-safe version of this one. Work with clean hands, clean tools and clean containers, and wear food-safe gloves when you handle the paste.
Choosing and Substituting: Gochugaru, Saeujeot and Sweet Rice Flour
Three ingredients are worth seeking out at a Korean grocer or online. Searching by their general names is the easiest way to find them. Compare the package size and the ingredient list rather than settling on the first product you see.
Gochugaru gives the paste its red color and its heat. Its grind and heat level vary from product to product. Don't replace it one-for-one with another chili powder, such as Japanese ichimi togarashi, since both the texture and the heat are different.
Saeujeot is small shrimp fermented in salt. Chop it with its brine before measuring. It adds both saltiness and savory depth, so leaving it out or swapping it changes how the kimchi tastes.
Sweet rice flour is made from glutinous rice. Don't treat regular (non-glutinous) rice flour or potato starch as the same thing.
For the fish sauce, fish sauces made in other styles, such as Thai nam pla, will work but taste different. The Korean radish can be replaced with regular daikon. Expect a difference in moisture and sharpness, though.
The Asian chives and minari are optional, and the kimchi still comes together without them. What you lose is a layer of aroma. If you skip the chives, the recipe suggests 3 green onions in their place.
Equipment
- A cutting board and a chef's knife
- A large, wide basin for salting the cabbage
- A colander or draining basket
- A small saucepan and a wooden spoon
- A large mixing bowl for the paste
- Food-safe gloves
- Clean, wide-mouth containers for fermenting (about 8 lb / 3.6kg of kimchi may need more than one)
Method: From Whole Cabbage to Packed Container
The cabbage salts for 2 hours. Cook the porridge during that time so it has a chance to cool completely before you mix the paste.
The 1 to 2 days at room temperature, the sour smell and taste, and the bubbles are one cook's observations. They vary with temperature and other conditions. They are not a food-safety standard, a fixed number of days or a storage limit. Follow general hygiene practices for fermented foods and keep the kimchi refrigerated once it is fermenting. If anything about the kimchi seems wrong, don't eat it. Don't taste it to find out.
Fresh or Sour: Kimchi at the Table
Freshly made kimchi tastes different from kimchi that has been left to ferment. Right after packing, the cabbage and the paste still taste like separate things. As fermentation goes on, the flavor turns sour, and even in the refrigerator the sourness keeps building slowly. Choosing the stage you like to eat it at is part of the dish.
Lay a quarter on a board, slice it into pieces, and serve them in a small dish beside a bowl of white rice. Kimchi that has turned well sour suits being cooked, as in kimchi jjigae or sundubu-jjigae.
When Things Go Wrong: Causes and How to Avoid Them
| What happened | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The leaves came apart and are hard to coat | Too much of the core was cut off, or the cabbage was cut through with a knife | Make only a shallow cut at the root and split the cabbage by hand. Make the second cut near the core so the quarters stay joined |
| The kimchi is too salty | The cabbage wasn't rinsed well enough after salting | Rinse several times in cold water before draining. Don't add salt to the paste |
| The paste is watery and thin | The cabbage wasn't drained well | Let the quarters drain properly in a colander before you start coating |
| The porridge scorched | The bottom wasn't stirred during cooking | Stir along the bottom of the pan over medium heat throughout the roughly 10 minutes |
| The paste went into warm porridge | The porridge wasn't cooled | Let the porridge cool completely before you add the seasonings |
| Some leaves are bare, the root end is thick with paste | The paste was concentrated in one place | Lift every leaf, including the inner ones near the core, and spread the paste thinly |
| The container hissed or swelled when opened | Gas from fermentation built up under a sealed lid | Open fermenting containers slowly and carefully |
Variations Within the Recipe
- Green onions only: Leave out the Asian chives and minari, which the original recipe marks as optional. You can use 3 green onions in place of the chives. The kimchi still works, with a simpler aroma.
- Daikon instead of Korean radish: The recipe allows it. The moisture and sharpness of the radish will be a little different.
- A different sugar: The recipe allows brown or white sugar in place of turbinado.
- Adjusting the heat: Gochugaru varies by product. Changing the amount or the type of chili changes the recipe and needs its own trial; another chili powder is not an equal substitute.
- Plant-based kimchi: This recipe depends on fish sauce and saeujeot. Simply leaving them out changes this recipe's seasoning balance. Use a recipe written to be plant-based from the start.
- Cut kimchi: If you want to cut the cabbage into bite-size pieces before seasoning it, that is mak-kimchi, a different recipe with its own process. It isn't a shortcut version of this one.
Kimjang: Making Kimchi in Quantity for Winter
Kimjang (김장) is the practice of making a large amount of kimchi to prepare for winter, and sharing it. The Korea Tourism Organization describes it as a custom that brings families together before the cold season. In the recipe used here, Maangchi recalls her own mother making large batches of cabbage kimchi with friends, each helping the others and taking kimchi home. That is one family's memory rather than a description of every Korean household, but it shows why the recipe is built for a big batch.
The ingredients also vary from region to region and from household to household. A record on the Korean Traditional Knowledge Portal, with data from the Rural Development Administration of Korea taken from a 1997 publication, describes tongbaechu-kimchi made with 20kg of napa cabbage. That version uses radish, water dropwort, mustard greens, green onions, fish sauce, chestnuts, oysters and glutinous rice porridge, among other ingredients. It is a different set of ingredients from the recipe above. Rather than one "correct" kimchi, there is a range of household and regional versions, and this article follows one of them from start to finish.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I cut the cabbage into pieces before seasoning it?
You can, but then you are making cut kimchi such as mak-kimchi, not the whole-leaf tongbaechu type. The process and the finished kimchi both change. Follow a recipe written for cut kimchi if that is what you want.
Can I eat it right after making it?
Yes. The original recipe says it can be eaten right away, while it tastes fresh, or left to ferment.
How many days does it take to ferment?
That depends on the room temperature. The 1 to 2 days at room temperature in the original recipe is that cook's guide, not a fixed number. Look for a sour smell and taste and for bubbles when you press on the top, then move the kimchi to the refrigerator.
Can I make it without Asian chives or minari?
Yes. Both are optional in the original recipe. You can use 3 green onions in place of the chives.
Can I make it without seafood?
Not with this recipe. It includes fish sauce and saeujeot, and leaving them out turns it into a different recipe. For a vegan or seafood-free kimchi, use a separate recipe that has been worked out for it.
Sources
- Maangchi, "Napa cabbage kimchi (Tongbaechu-kimchi)." The ingredients, proportions and method used in this recipe; the cook's guide to signs of fermentation; the distinction from mak-kimchi and other forms; and the author's personal memory of her family's kimjang. https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/tongbaechu-kimchi
- Korea Tourism Organization (VISITKOREA), "Baechu kimchi Recipe: Korean Food." The description of napa cabbage kimchi as the type commonly called kimchi, and of kimjang as a family custom before winter. Its own proportions and salting time differ and are not used in this recipe. https://english1.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/FOD/FO_EN_EC_Recipes.jsp?cid=1928346
- Korean Traditional Knowledge Portal (data provided by the Rural Development Administration of Korea), "Tongbaechugimchi (Kimchi)." A recorded example, drawn from a 1997 publication, of tongbaechu-kimchi with a different set of ingredients, used here to show regional and household variation. https://koreantk.com/ktkp2014/life/life-view.view?artNo=0010102120345
