Traditional Kimchi Recipe & Video - Seonkyoung Longest (2024)

Ingredients

Scale

For Salted Cabbage

• 3 cups Korean kimchi sea saltor flake sea salt
• 3 Large size(alb. to 6lb.) Napa Cabbages, total about 18 lb, quartered
• 24 cups Room temperature water

For Kimchi Paste

• 2 1/4 cup water
• 4 oz. Dried pollack (approximately 1/4 cup)
• 1 Sheet of 5”x 5”dried seaweed (Konbu/Dahsima)
• 1 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 1/4 cup sweet rice flour
• 1 1/4 cup Good quality fish sauce
• 3 Tbs. Korean salted shrimp (Saewoo-Jeot. You can substitute to Thai fermented shrimp paste)
• 1 Tbs. Sugar
• 1 Tbs. Kosher sea salt
• 25 Garlic cloves (approximately 2/3 cup)
• 1 Thumb size ginger, sliced (approximately 1 1/2 Tbs.)
• 1/2 Onion, quartered (approximately 1cup)
• 1 Apple, quartered & seeded (approximately 1 1/2 cup)
• 3 to 5 Red chili, roughly sliced (approximately 1 1/2 cup)
• 3 cupsgochugaru, Korean red pepper flakes

For Kimchi Filling Vegetables

• 1 Medium size(2lb.) Korean radish, thinly julienne (approximately 8 cups)
• 6 to 8 Green onions, cut in halves lengthwise then cut into 1” long pieces (approximately 2 1/2 cup)

Optional choices of Vegetables (You can add these in this recipe or skip it)

• 1 bunch of Korean mustard, cut into 1” long pieces (approximately 4 cups)
• 1 bunch Water parsley(water celery Minari), cut into 1” long pieces (approximately 2 cups)
• 1 bunch Garlic chive, cut into 1” long pieces (approximately 2 cups)

Special Tools

• Large plastic cookie/treat bags or 2.5 gallon ziploc bags
• Large container with lid

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Salted Cabbage

1. Separate salt into two parts, 1/4 cup and 3/4 cup, and wet your cabbage with water. In your sink or XXL, size basin adds 24 cups water and 2 1/4 cups sea salt and stir to let the salt dissolve into water.
   
2. Grab a quartered cabbage and sprinkle the remaining salt on every layer of cabbage, a small pinch at a time. Make sure most of the salt is on the stem part. Repeat and place in a clean sink or a large basin until all the cabbage’s done and the salt is gone. If you need more salt, use 1Tbs. at a time, but trying to stick with the amount of this recipe calls.
   
3. Pour salted water we made earlier over cabbages. Salt down cabbage for about 7 to 9 hours if it’s 60 degrees and below(fall to winter time), 4 to 5 hours if it’s 60 degrees and higher(summer time). Rotate cabbages to salt evenly, once or twice for the whole entire process of salting.
   
4. Check if the cabbage has salted enough by bending the thick stem part. If it snaps, it’s not ready so soak more, if it bends nicely then it’s ready to rinse.
   
5. Rinse at least 3 times thoroughly and move to a large strainer and drain about an hour before filling up with kimchi filling.
   

Kimchi Paste

1. Meanwhile, let’s make kimchi paste! In a small saucepan, add water, dried pollack, seaweed, and shiitake. Bring it to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes.
   
2. Remove from heat and take solid ingredients out. Check if the broth is 2cups. If it’s less, add water to make 2 cups.
   
3. Return to heat, add rice flour, and whisk. Bring it to a soft boil over medium-high heat and keep whisking for 2 minutes. Cook rice flour is a very important process, it depends on how kimchi will ferment later on. Remove from heat and cool completely.
   
4. In a blender add all ingredients for kimchi paste as well as rice flour porridge except Gochugaru(Korean red pepper flakes- we don’t want them to break down too much). Blend away until it has combined well and smooth.
   
5. Before getting your hands to get dirty with the sauce, cover your kimchi container with a plastic cookie/treat bag or 2.5-gallon ziplock bag to prevent kimchi’s smell/color soak into the container. It will prevent the kimchi’s strong smell to take over your refrigerator as well. 😉
   In an XL basin or mixing bowl, combine kimchi paste, Gochugaru and filling vegetables with your hand(please wear a pair of gloves, it’s spicy!).
   
6. Take one-quarter of cabbage at a time, hold cabbage with the left hand, and grab the filling with the right hand. Brush down inside of salted cabbage with filling and leave some vegetable pieces, not too much but not too less- just enough. (Please watch my tutorial video for this part to understand better.) Switch the hands if you are left-handed. Wrap nice and tight and place to prepare the container. Repeat until cabbage and filling has gone.
   
7. Tie the plastic bag first with a rubber band and lose the container with the lid tightly. Place kimchi on your counter for 24 to 40 hours and then place it in a refrigerator.
   
   Enjoy homemade kimchi at home!

SeonkyoungAugust 6, 2015 at 6:54 pm

I really hope you can try one day! 😀

Reply

SeonkyoungOctober 1, 2015 at 6:57 pm

Yep, you can make without those, it will turn out as a Baek-kimchi, which means white kimchi. 🙂 It’s a type of kimchi actually exist in Korea for kids or older people who can’t eat spicy food well. 🙂

Reply

This kimchi recipe makes a lot. How long will this last in the refrigerator?

I like your food and your presentation style.

SeonkyoungApril 19, 2016 at 11:31 pm

If you keep it properly it will last a year. 🙂 it gets keep sour day by day, month by month and sour kimchi is perfect to make kimchi fried rice, kimchi jjigae and more! If this is too much for you, you can try my quick kimchi recipe, which calls only 1 napa cabbage. https://seonkyounglongest.com/fresh-kimchi-recipe/
Hope this helps!

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SeonkyoungJune 8, 2016 at 9:43 pm

Hi Dea! It is totally fine, you can leave out the dried pollack. 🙂 In that case, please use some dried shiitake mushrooms for more flavor. Good luck and have fun in your kitchen~!

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SeonkyoungJuly 16, 2016 at 5:37 pm

Dashi stock has smokey flavor and I’m not sure how that will work for kimchi. If you can find dried shiitake mushroom, that will be the best choice to make the stock for kimchi to substitute. 🙂

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SeonkyoungAugust 18, 2016 at 5:06 am

YAY! Kristal! I’m so proud of you!!! Sometimes I even get store bought kimchi…lol! <3 Homemade kimchi is the best though!!!

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SeonkyoungSeptember 20, 2016 at 4:59 pm

You can make either one of the kimchi recipes to your taste. 🙂

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SeonkyoungOctober 24, 2016 at 6:04 pm

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SeonkyoungJuly 30, 2018 at 8:34 pm

It’s almost impossible to fix kimchi after it’s made… Maybe add more ground apple or/and pear will help!!

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Hey Seonkyoung!!

I just tried making your kimchi, and it is fermenting right now! Im really excited to see how it turns out 🙂

Few questions:
– why is the salted water brine rinsed off? Doesnt that increase the chance of the kimchi to rot/go bad?

– is it ok that my final kimchi does barely have any liquid? The paste turned out very thick. I remember that from another recipe I ended up with so much liquid that the vegetables were fully covered by the liquid sauce, preventing air from reaching the cabbage.

However, regarding the taste, yours is absolutely fantastic and much better already!! 🙂

Kevin

SeonkyoungAugust 13, 2018 at 7:29 pm

Salted water is for draining excess moist from the cabbage and make them soften. It’s pretty much the cabbage to be ready to observe the kimchi seasoning. If you add all that salt water into kimchi, the kimchi won’t be eatable! (Too salty!)
Kimchi suppose to have some liquid. Its’s natural liquid from all the vegetables while fermenting and the cabbage doesn’t need air touching. (But your previous one sounds like too much liquid though, about 1/2 to 2/3 way after fermenting is ideal.) As it’s ferementing the liquid is coming out from the veggies and it will help all of the flavors and veggies harmony evenly. The kimchi juice is very good for kimchi jjigae later!
Hope this answers help!

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SeonkyoungAugust 21, 2018 at 7:05 pm

Discard solid ingredients. Watching the recipe video will help to understand the process of making kimchi!

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HalstonAugust 28, 2019 at 4:18 pm

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SeonkyoungDecember 11, 2018 at 6:34 pm

I like O-Ssi-Ne brand, but I believe it’s available only west coast? Jong-ga-jip is a good brand too!

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Hi Seonkyoung,
If I make a large batch, is it ok if I just ferment a small container and refridgerate the the remaining portion right away into the fridge? Will my refridgerated kimchi still ferment?

Thank you

Thank you, I love this recipe. I’ve been making this couple of times and still my favorite, I love the strong flavor.
-Inge-

★★★★★