Napa Cabbage Kimchi - Pogi Kimchi

Last Updated on March 2, 2021 by Babita

Napa Cabbage Kimchi is a traditional Korean side dish served with every meal. It is a spicy, tangy, pickled, fermented goodness which is perfect to eat as is or use in other recipes as an ingredient. This is a recipe for small batch of kimchi which you can make easily, store and use it when required.

Napa Cabbage Kimchi on a Blue Plate Served with Rice on the Side

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During Lock down 2020, I started watching Korean dramas and that piqued my interest in Korean cuisine. Since then I have been learning as much as I can about Korean cuisine. This particular recipe is a traditional kimchi recipe that I adapted from Maangchi. She is a famous Youtuber who cooks Korean Cuisine.

However, I made some of my own changes to the ingredients and I can tell you this kimchi tastes out of this world. How do I know that? Well I have bought kimchi from stores like HMart and Farmer’s Market, but none of them tastes like the one I make at home. This one has the right amount of crunch, spice, and sourness. It also doesn’t taste fishy like some of the store bought kimchi.

What is Kimchi?

Kimchi is Korean side dish of pickled and fermented vegetables. It is also known as kimchee or gimchee. The most common type of kimchi is made with napa cabbage and is also known as Pogi Kimchi or Tongbaechu-kimchi , but you can make it with ther vegetables as well. Outside of Korea we are mostly familiar with napa cabbage kimchi, but let me assure you there are different kinds and varieties of kimchi.

Ingredients for Kimchi

2-3 lbs Napa Cabbage (1 head)
1/4 cup coarse sea salt

How to Prep Napa Cabbage for Kimchi

Cut the napa cabbage into four quarters. Do no not cut out the core yet.

Place one quarter of the cabbage in a huge pot.
Add salt liberally and in between each leaf.
Repeat these steps for rest of the cabbage.
Every half an hour flip the cabbage over and mix it with the water that has accumulated in the bottom of the pot.
You have to do this for 2 hours. You will see the Napa cabbage will reduce in size.

After 2 hours you have to rinse all of the cabbage leaves thoroughly.
You have to rinse it at least 4 to 5 times to get all the salt out.
Throw away all the excess water.

Note: While you are waiting 2 hours for the Napa cabbage you should start getting other ingredients and steps ready.

Ingredients to Make Rice Porridge for Kimchi

1 cup water
2 tsp rice flour (sweet rice flour)

Instructions to Make the Rice Porridge

Rice porridge is one of the most important ingredient in kimchi. This porridge aids in fermentation. In a small stock pot add water. Once it start boiling add sweet rice flour and mix well. Keep stirring it until the porridge has thickened into a paste like consistency.

Ingredients for Kimchi Marinade

1 cup sliced Korean radish (slice it lengthwise like a match stick
1 cup sliced carrots (slice it thin like match stick)
1/2 onion chopped ( either red of white)
1 cup green onions (chopped)
1/4 cup fish sauce
1 tbsp small dry shrimp
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup chopped garlic
1 tsp chopped ginger
1/2 cup gochugaru (Korean hot pepper flakes)

How to Make Kimchi Marinade (Mix)

In a big mixing bowl combine the rice porridge, radish, carrots, onions, green onions, fish sauce, dry shrimp, garlic, ginger, sugar and gochugaru.
Mix them all properly.

For the final step; take a little bit of the mix and apply it liberally in between each leaf of the cabbage. Apply it to all the pieces of cabbage.

Fold the marinated napa cabbage in half and place it in an container. I use BPA free plastic container. Press it down as much as possible. Cover it with a lid and allow it to marinate for around 1 and 1/2 days during summer. You may have to let it marinate for two days during winter. You will see some bubbles. Also don’t be surprised if you don’t see a lot liquid.

Napa Cabbage Kimchi in a Plastic Container

How to Store Napa Cabbage Kimchi

Once the marination process is done, place the kimchi container in the coolest part of the fridge. If you want you can use a marker and write the date on the container.

How long can you store kimchi in refrigerator

Kimchi can stay 6 to 12 months in the refrigerator. It is a living probiotic which keeps under going fermentation (at a lower rate in the refrigerator) and as such the taste starts to change. My last batch of kimchi lasted me for 6 months. I was not using it daily. I used it occasionally and when I wanted to use it in other recipes. If you are using it daily this batch will probably last you a month.

As Kimchi ages does it become sour

Yes, kimchi does become more sour as it ages. It is still going through fermentation but at a slower rate in the refrigerator.

How can you use sour kimchi

You can use sour kimchi as an ingredient to make other Korean recipes like kimchi jjigae, kimchi fried rice, kimchi pancake, etc.

How do I eat kimchi

You can eat it as a side with meals. You can also make some of the above mentioned recipes. You can add it to your ramen, eggs, soups, kimbab or even sandwich. It is one of the most versatile food item.

Notes Regarding some of the Ingredients for Napa Cabbage Kimchi

Napa Cabbage Kimchi on Blue Plate with Rice and Chopsticks

Gochugaru: Gochugaru is a Korean hot pepper flakes. I personally don’t feel they are spicy at all. However, they do have a unique smoky, sweet, slightly spicy taste to them. They also add a pop of color to the dishes you add them into. You can find them in HMart (store as well as online). It is available in Amazon also. Just make sure your are buying “Made in Korea” product and not the Chinese one. They are not the same. Also authentic gochugaru is expensive. See images below

Korean Radish: Korean radish is thicker and bigger in size. It is a white radish with firm and crunchy texture. You can find them in Asian stores. If you can’t find them then then leave it out.

Small Dry Shrimp: These are found in most of the Asian stores. Traditionally fermented small shrimps are used to make this recipe. However, I used dry shrimps and loved the hint of flavor of it.

Sugar: You can also substitute regular sugar with brown sugar. Sugar helps in balancing the acidic taste. If you don’t want to use sugar, you can use half an apple or Asian pear.

Sweet Rice Flour: is also known as Glutenous Rice Flour. if you don’t have this feel free to substitute with all-purpose flour. You can also substitute it with half regular rice flour and half all-purpose flour.