# Korean Kimchi at Home

> Kimchi is napa cabbage **salted for two hours** so it loses its water, then coated in a paste of **rice flour and Korean chilli flakes (gochugaru)** with garlic and ginger, and fermented at **room temperature for one to three days** before refrigerating.

**Korean Cuisine · 190 min · 20 servings · 35 kcal per serving**

Kimchi is not a pickle — it is a living fermented food full of beneficial bacteria. That fermentation keeps changing its flavour, so a single jar passes through several distinct stages over months.

## Ingredients

- 1 head — napa cabbage, about 1.5 kg
- 1/2 cup — coarse non-iodised salt
- 2 tbsp — sweet rice flour
- 1 cup — water
- 1 tbsp — sugar
- 1/2 cup — gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes)
- 8 cloves — garlic, crushed
- 1 tbsp — grated ginger
- 1 medium — onion, grated
- 1 — Korean or white radish, thinly sliced
- 4 stalks — spring onion, cut
- 2 tbsp — soy sauce (vegan alternative to fish sauce)

## Method

1. **Salt the cabbage** — Quarter the cabbage lengthways and wash it. Sprinkle the coarse salt **between the leaves** one by one, concentrating on the thick white stems where most of the water sits. Leave it **two hours**, turning every half hour. Salt draws water out by osmosis, so the leaves soften and take on seasoning.
2. **Rinse thoroughly** — Rinse the cabbage **three times** in plenty of cold water to remove the excess salt, and drain it in a colander for at least **30 minutes**. Any water left will thin the paste and make the kimchi soupy. Taste a leaf — it should be lightly salty, not aggressively so.
3. **The rice paste** — Whisk the rice flour into the water in a small pan over medium heat until it thickens like pudding — about **3 minutes**. Stir in the sugar and let it **cool completely**. This paste feeds the bacteria, speeding fermentation, and helps the seasoning cling to the leaves.
4. **Mix the paste** — To the cooled paste add the gochugaru, garlic, ginger, grated onion and soy sauce, and mix well. **Wear gloves** — gochugaru stains your hands and will burn if you touch your eye afterwards. Stir in the radish and spring onion.
5. **Coat the cabbage** — Rub the paste **between every leaf** by hand, working from the stems outwards. Not sprinkled on the outside — distributing it between the leaves is what gets flavour everywhere. Fold each quarter onto itself and pack it into a clean glass jar, pressing out the air.
6. **Ferment** — Leave **5 cm of headroom** above the kimchi — fermentation produces gas and the jar will overflow. Seal it and leave it at **room temperature for one to three days** depending on the weather, opening it once a day to release gas. When you see bubbles and smell a light sourness, move it to the fridge.

## Tips

- Use **coarse non-iodised salt** — iodine disables the beneficial bacteria and fermentation stops.
- Glass jars only; plastic absorbs the smell and colour, and metal reacts with the acidity.
- Kimchi keeps fermenting slowly in the fridge and grows more sour over time — that is normal.
- Older kimchi (two months and up) is the best for cooking — kimchi stew and fried rice.

## FAQ

### How long does kimchi keep?
Three to six months in the fridge, growing more sour over time. Fresh kimchi (the first fortnight) is best eaten as it is; older kimchi is stronger and better suited to cooking such as kimchi stew and fried rice.

### Why coarse non-iodised salt?
Iodine is antimicrobial and disables the lactobacillus responsible for fermentation, so the kimchi never ferments at all. Anti-caking agents in fine salt also cloud the liquid.

### How do I know it fermented properly?
You will see small bubbles rise when you press it, smell a fresh sourness, and taste a light acidity. A foul smell, or black or green mould, means it has spoiled — throw it out.

### Can I make it vegan?
Yes. The traditional recipe uses fish sauce or salted shrimp, and you can replace them with soy sauce or miso paste. The umami will be lighter but the fermentation works exactly the same.

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Source: https://hanakoleah.com/en/korean-cuisine/korean-kimchi-at-home
Edited by: Marwa Mohamed
Last updated: 2026-10-22