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Baek Kimchi (White Kimchi) by Kwang Uh

Chef
Difficulty
Intermediate
Total Time
2H 0MIN
Cuisine
Ingredients

Napa cabbages: 2 large (about 15 lbs total weight)

Sea salt: 14 oz (just under 1 cup)

Filtered water: 1.8 gallons

Dashima (dried kelp): 1.75 oz piece

Sweet rice flour: 2 tbsp

Korean pear: 1 ½, large (about 1.5 lbs total weight)

Garlic: 10 cloves

Ginger: 2-inch piece ginger

Anchovy fish sauce: ¼ cup (or other fish sauce, about 2 fl oz)

Sugar: 1 ½ tsp

Dried chili pepper seed: up to 1 oz (about 4 tbsp)

Korean radish: ¼ cut into batonnets (about ½ lb)

Fuji apple: ½, cut into batonnets

Green chili pepper: 1, seeded and sliced

Korean red chili pepper: 1, seeded and sliced

Green onions: 2, sliced

A kimchi recipe you’ll return to again and again, from chef Kwang Uh of LA’s Baroo

How to make white kimchi (1 gallon jar)
01.
For the dashima broth
  1. Put 1.75 oz dried kelp (dashima) and 3 quarts filtered water (about 11 ¾ cups) in a soup pot. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes.
  2. Strain.
02.
For the sweet rice slurry
  1. In a bowl, mix 2 cups (17 fl oz) hot dashima broth with 2 tbsp sweet rice flour.
  2. Add this mixture to the remainder of the dashima broth in the pot and bring to a boil.
  3. Cook and stir continuously for 2-4 minutes until thickened. Let cool.
03.
For the fruit juice
  1. Peel and seed one large Korean pear (about 20 oz). Peel the garlic and ginger and rinse them.
  2. In a blender, blend the pear, 10 cloves garlic, and 2-inch piece of ginger with 14 oz (1 ¾ cups) sweet rice dashima broth.
  3. Line your strainer or chinois with cheesecloth and strain the juice.
04.
For the kimchi marinade
  1. Mix the remainder of the cooled sweet rice dashima broth, ¼ cup fish sauce (2 fl oz), and 1 ½ tsp sugar. Adjust sugar to taste. Mix this with the strained fruit juice.
  2. Weigh and calculate 2-3% of the total weight of the liquid, and add that amount of salt to the liquid. Mix to dissolve.
  3. Place up to 1 oz dried chili pepper seed (about 4 tbsp) in a dashi bag and submerge in the liquid marinade.
05.
Brining the cabbage
  1. Cut each cabbage in half by making a deep cut across the bottom stem. Use your hands to rip the cabbage in half. Then make another deep cut across the bottom of each half and rip apart again so the cabbage is in quarters. Repeat with the second cabbage.
  2. Place the quartered cabbage in a wide and deep container. Pour over the brine so the cabbage is submerged.
  3. Brine for 4-5 hours, depending on the humidity and temperature. (To speed up brining, use warm water.)
  4. After brining, rinse the cabbage twice and then drain.
06.
Assembling the kimchi
  1. Sterilize your kimchi container.
  2. In a bowl, mix the kimchi marinade with the ½ Fuji apple (cut into batonnets), ¼ Korean radish (cut into batonnets, about 8 oz), 1 green chili (seeded and sliced), 1 red chili (seeded and sliced), and 2 green onions (sliced).
  3. In the container, layer the strained brined cabbage and the mixed fruit/vegetable marinade. Repeat layers until all the ingredients are used.
  4. Pour any remaining liquid over the cabbage until fully covered. If more liquid is needed, make a 2-3% brine (about 1 gallon water with 2.5-3 oz salt) and add to the container.
  5. Leave at room temperature to ferment to your taste (usually 2-3 days). Once fermented, store in the fridge.
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