How to make kimchi at home: easy napa cabbage kimchi recipe for beginners

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Homemade kimchi is easier than it looks. The work is mostly waiting, and a batch will keep you in kimchi, kimchi stew and kimchi fried rice for weeks. This guide covers classic napa cabbage kimchi (baechu-kimchi) and a quicker cut version (mak-kimchi) that most home cooks make.

Ingredients for one large napa cabbage

1 napa cabbage (about 2 to 3 kg)
About 1 cup coarse sea salt (not fine table salt)
2 tablespoons glutinous (sweet) rice flour and 1 cup water, for the rice paste
About half a cup to 1 cup gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes), to taste
1 head of garlic, minced
A thumb-sized piece of ginger, minced
3 to 4 tablespoons fish sauce
1 to 2 tablespoons salted shrimp (saeujeot), chopped, optional
1 tablespoon sugar, or a grated Asian pear or apple
A bunch of spring onions, cut into short lengths
Half a Korean radish (mu), cut into thin matchsticks
Optional: carrot, Korean chives (buchu), onion

Step 1: salt the cabbage

Cut the cabbage in half lengthways through the root, then into quarters for the classic version. Leave the root so the leaves stay together.
Wet the leaves, then sprinkle salt between each leaf, more on the thick white stems than the green tops.
Leave for 6 to 8 hours, turning the pieces every couple of hours. The cabbage is ready when the stems bend without snapping.
Rinse three times in cold water to remove excess salt and drain cut-side down for at least an hour.

Taste a piece of stem: it should be pleasantly salty, not harsh. If it is too salty, rinse again.

Step 2: make the rice paste

Whisk the glutinous rice flour into the water in a small pan and heat, stirring, until it thickens into a translucent porridge, a few minutes. Let it cool completely. The paste helps the seasoning stick and feeds the fermentation.

Step 3: make the seasoning

Mix the cooled rice paste with gochugaru, garlic, ginger, fish sauce, salted shrimp and sugar or fruit. Leave it for 10 minutes so the pepper flakes soften and the colour deepens. Then mix in the radish, spring onions and any other vegetables. Wear gloves. Gochugaru on your hands burns for hours, especially if you touch your eyes.

Step 4: stuff and pack

Spread the seasoning between every leaf, working from the outer leaves in and covering the stems well. Fold each quarter in half and pack tightly into a clean container or jar, pressing out air. Leave a little headroom, because the kimchi releases liquid and gas as it ferments.

Fermenting and storing

Leave the container at room temperature for 1 to 2 days, depending on how warm your kitchen is, until it smells pleasantly sour and you see small bubbles. Press it down once a day.
Then move it to the fridge, where it keeps fermenting slowly. It is good to eat fresh, gets tangier over the following weeks, and very sour kimchi is ideal for stews and pancakes.
Always use clean utensils and keep the kimchi pressed under its brine.

Quick version: mak-kimchi

Cut the cabbage into bite-sized pieces before salting. Toss the pieces with salt, leave them for 1.5 to 2 hours, tossing occasionally, then rinse, drain and mix with the same seasoning. It ferments the same way but is far quicker to prepare and easier to serve.

Vegan and vegetarian swaps

Replace fish sauce and salted shrimp with soy sauce or a little extra salt, plus a seaweed and mushroom stock for depth.
Some cooks add miso or doenjang in small amounts for savouriness.
The rice paste, vegetables and fermentation stay the same.

Common problems

Too salty: add more radish, which releases water, or more cabbage next time.
Not sour after days: the kitchen may be cold; leave it out a little longer before refrigerating.
Mushy: over-salted or fermented too warm for too long.

Have you made kimchi before? Share your family's twist or ask about a step in the comments.