Make Your Own Homemade Kimchi

Everybody knows what kimchi is, I know you want to try and experience how Gu Junpyo made it with Jandi and her family. Now I found a simple way to make it and I've tried it as well so I know that this is jam pack success. Even my mom who doesn't like hot food loves it!

There are varieties of kimchi but we will make the most common one which is baechu kimchi using Chinese cabbage.

We need the following ingredients:

5 heads of Chinese cabbage
2-3 heads of garlic
2 & 3/4 cups of salt
2 cups of red pepper powder
1-2 knobs of ginger

optional: chopped scallions or cubed daikon radish

Red pepper powder (kochukaru in Korean), a coarse powder of chili pepper flakes, can be found in any store selling Korean foodstuffs (try SM Hypermart). It is made from a pepper of medium heat. If using a hotter pepper, use less it is up to you (but kimchi is supposed to be spicy)!~

Wash the Chinese cabbage well, remove the outermost dry leaves if there's any and trim off the root. Traditionally, the cabbage is just cut into half lengthwise and made it as it is. I recommend cutting the cabbage into smaller pieces, you'll know why when you tried it.

Next cut out a bit of the white solid mass near the root. Laying halves flat side down, make 3 lengthwise cuts along each half. Then chop widthwise into one inch wide sections.

Place the chopped cabbage into a large bowl or basin. Take 2 cups of the salt and make a brine with 15 or so cups of water. Pour the saltwater over the cabbage, and mix well.

Let this stand for at least one hour.

While waiting, chop up garlic and ginger. You can estimate or just follow what I did using ingredients on top. I never really use exact amounts, depending on my mood

and I've always enjoyed the result, even if it sometimes comes out more gingery or garlicky or spicy than usual.

The only thing you really need to make kimchi is the salt: since this is a raw food, a certain amount of salt is needed to pickle and preserve the cabbage.

Make sure your hands are clean, mix the garlic, ginger, 1.5 or so cups of red pepper and the remaining 3/4 cup of salt with a half cup or so of water. Mix it well. Your mixing hand will start to tingle. Relish this sensation.

Once the cabbage has soaked for an hour in brine, drain off all of the liquid, then rinse the cabbage and drain again well.

Mix the paste from above into the cabbage. Add optional ingredients mentioned above, if desired. Mix it all up well, until the paste coats the cabbage evenly.

Mix it up some more!

Once it's thoroughly mixed, place the mixture into very clean & sterilized containers. If there is some red liquid left over, pour it into each container. Fill containers close to the rim.

You don't want any air pockets in the kimchi containers, and you do want the cabbage to soak in this kimchi juice.

Clean off the lips of the containers, and put on lids. Do NOT tighten lids too hard. Let the containers sit at room temperature for 2-3 days, and as they begin to ferment, air will bubble out and containers may leak a bit.

Traditionally, kimchi is put into ceramic crocks and buried in the earth. Even if you don't have kimchi fridge, you can put yours in your home fridge at the bottom near the crisper. At fridge temperature, it will continue to slowly pickle, getting more tangy with time.

You did it! You made your own kimchi! Bob-Muk-Ja! (밥 먹자!)