A Kimchi Recipe For Single People (Or To Use One Nappa Cabbage)

Kimchi is fermented nappa cabbage, a staple in Korean food. My Korean grocer charges up to £4 for a bag and it's shipped all the way from Korea. On my probiotic spree, I decided to make my own kimchi.

I used to live with a Korean family when I was at university. My lady landlord spent Saturday mornings making kimchi and she'd make a huge box, sometimes two boxes. They ate it with their meals everyday. The bottom of the fridge the spot dedicated for kimchi. I should have paid more attention or even asked to be taught how to make it. It wasn't until years later, I tried it for the first time and became addicted to it's tangy spicy taste. Aside from the probiotic benefits, I've found that it helps settle a stomach after an overindulgence of alcohol.

Making kimchi is easy but there's a lot of prep time so it's worthwhile making it in bulk. Kimchi keeps for months. But if it's just you in the household that likes it or you have limited refrigerator space, you might struggle to find a recipe for a small quantity.  

Here's my recipe for one nappa cabbage. You need a very big plastic container to store it. I must have an airtight lid as otherwise your fridge will smell like kimchi!

Ingredients:

1 large nappa cabbage/wong bok

Salt 

1 tab of rice flour 

12 tabs water (or enough to make a runny sauce with the rice flour)

3/4 cup Korean red pepper flakes or powder (add another 1/4 cup if you like it spicier)

1/4 cup minced garlic

2 spring onions finely sliced

1 cup julienned mooli/daikon and/or carrot

1/4 cup fish sauce

1 tab sugar
Optional: 1 tsp of minced ginger (I personally don't like it but it's traditional)

1) Trim the root end of the cabbage. Cut into quarters by slitting the thickest part of the stalk (white parts) and pull leaves apart with your hands. That way you won't get lots of broken leaves in your kimchi.

2) Rinse the cabbage quarters in water so the salt sticks to it. 

3) Sprinkle salt between each leaf (more for the white stalk) and sit aside in a bit container. Let the quarters sit core side up for 2 hours. Turn them over in the salted water every 1/2 hour.

4) Make a runny sauce with the rice flour and water by cooking over a medium heat for a few minutes. 

5) To the sauce, mix in the other ingredients. It will be like a paste. Let it cool.

6) After two hours salting, rinse the cabbage under running water. Twice as a minimum to make sure most of the salt is removed. Shake off excess water.

7) Put on disposable food prep gloves and apply the red pepper sauce on every part of the cabbage, making sure the core areas are well covered. Place into a plastic container box, make sure you have an inch of space left at the top for expansion as the kimchi ferments.

Kimchi ready for fermentation.

8) Press down the cabbage and put the lid on. Leave the container on the countertop away from the sun for a day (two if it's winter) before storing in the warmest part of the refrigerator. 

9) The kimchi will develop brine and air bubbles after day 5. Burp the container by taking the the lid off and putting it back on when you see the lid of the container bulge a little. 

10) After 7 days the kimchi should be ready to eat. Taste it and give it a few more days if you like it more sour or if it's bitter tasting. It should taste really good after two weeks. Make sure to keep the kimchi pressed down so air bubbles are not trapped. When it's too sour, you can cook it but hopefully your kimchi won't have the chance to be over-fermented.

The finished product. It smells and tastes amazing!