Mak (“Easy”) Kimchi
Ingredients
Instructions
Trim off the discolored outer leaves of the napa cabbage. Slice into fourths, remove the core, and chop into bite-sized pieces. Wash thoroughly.
Soak the pieces of cabbage in cold water, drain, and place into one of the two large bowls. Your next task is to make sure that each piece of cabbage is salted. In order to do this, I worked in batches, putting the cabbage batch by batch into the second bowl and salting each as I went. I used at least 1/4 cup of salt for one head of napa cabbage, if not a bit more.
After salting, the kimchi will need to wilt in the salt for the next 1 ½ to 2 hours. Every 30 minutes, turn the cabbage over to salt evenly. I just transferred the cabbage from one bowl to the other every 30 minutes.
After 1 1/2 hours, the cabbage should have shrunken to about half the size it was originally. Rinse the cabbage in cold water several times (I did it in batches in a smaller bowl) to clean it thoroughly, then drain. At this point, taste it to make sure it’s salted enough. If it’s not salty at all, you may need to add more salt and let it soak for a bit longer.
Next, make the porridge. Combine 1 1/2 cups of water and 1/4 cup sweet rice flour in a small pot over high heat and bring it to a boil. Keep stirring until the porridge makes thick bubbles — about three to five minutes — then take it off the heat and set aside to cool.
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Continue Reading at Tworedbowls →Chef's Notes
*If you don’t have sweet rice flour, it’s fine — all the flour does is help create a porridge to more evenly distribute and infuse the kimchi paste flavor. Just replace the mochiko flour with 1 tbsp sugar to make up for the sweetness.
I didn’t have one single container large enough for all of my kimchi, so I stored it in several smaller jars. I actually think that’s good, in some ways — this way you can put a few jars into the fridge right away, where it can sit for months before eating, and keep one or two out to ferment at room temperature to start eating in one or two days.
*If you don’t have sweet rice flour, it’s fine — all the flour does is help create a porridge to more evenly distribute and infuse the kimchi paste flavor. Just replace the mochiko flour with 1 tbsp sugar to make up for the sweetness.
I didn’t have one single container large enough for all of my kimchi, so I stored it in several smaller jars. I actually think that’s good, in some ways — this way you can put a few jars into the fridge right away, where it can sit for months before eating, and keep one or two out to ferment at room temperature to start eating in one or two days.
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Reviews from the Original Source
I want you to know that the idea of making my own kimchi was, at first, daunting! But your easy to follow instructions gave me the courage to do it! And it turned out great! I have shared jars with my friends with no complaints (other than “my jar is empty! Please refill!”). Now, I have lost count how many times I’ve made kimchi with your recipe. If you still have doubts about your recipe, doubt no more!!!
Hi there! Just wanted to pop on here and leave a comment since I've been using this recipe (and some of Maangchi's tips) to make kimchi since 2020. Thank you so much for putting this together. My family and I love this kimchi and prefer it to any we've tried. I just wanted to note that when I started making this recipe I didn't have sweet rice flour, so I ground up oats to make oat flour – worked just as well as a substitute. I also have a few vegetarian friends, so I often leave out the fish sauce and have no issues either.
Best wishes to you and all your readers!
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