Green Cabbage Kimchi (양배추 김치 Yangbaechoo Kimchi)

This kimchi is made from green cabbage (the regular kind used to make coleslaw) and is a good alternative to traditional kimchi if you can't find authentic Korean cabbage although Napa cabbage is a close substitute.

📝 Ingredients

• 1 green cabbage ((approx. 2 lb / 907.18 g))
• 2-3 green onions
• 3 oz Korean (Chinese) chives ((optional))
• 4 Tbsp Sea Salt (Trader Joe's)
• 3 cups water
• 2 fresh red chili pepper
• 2 oz garlic ((peeled))
• 1/2 tsp fresh ginger ((chopped))
• 1/2 onion
• 4 Tbsp fish sauce ((add 2 more Tbsp if not salty enough))
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp dried red chili powder ((adjust to taste))

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1Cut cabbage into halves and cut out the core.
2. 2Cut into 1 to 1.5 in width square pieces.
3. 3Rinse cabbage and drain.
4. 4Salt the cabbage by mixing it with salt water. (Mix 3 cups water and 3 Tbs sea salt and set aside. In a large bowl, put half the cabbage and add the salt water. Sprinkle 1 Tbs sea salt on to of the cabbage. Add remaining cabbage and toss.)
5. 5Let the cabbage sit in salt water for 1 hour. Toss 2-3 times to make sure the salt water reaches the cabbage evenly.
6. 6In the meantime, prepare the kimchi yangnyum (seasoning) by finely chopping garlic, onion, red pepper and ginger in a chopper. *If using a blender, add 4 Tbs fish sauce because it will not chop without additional liquid.
7. 7When chopping the yangnyum, don’t overdo it and make it into a smoothie. Stop when you can still see each piece. Add 1 Tbs sugar and 2 Tbs dried red chili powder (고추가루 gochookaroo) and mix. Taste it. Add more or less red chili powder to your taste. It should taste quite spicy, salty and pungent. Don’t worry because this will be blended with the cabbage and the taste will get smoother with fermentation. You can also add more sugar if you like. But adding more sugar will make the kimchi sour faster.
8. 8Wash and clean green onions and chives. Cut green onions and chives into similar length pieces (2 in or so) and set aside.
9. 9In about 1 hour, check the cabbage to see if it is ready. Except for very thick pieces, it should easily bend.
10. 10Rinse and drain cabbage.
11. 11In a large bowl, add the cabbage, yangnyum, green onions, and chives.
12. 12Wear plastic gloves (or your hand will smell of kimchi all day) and mix everything together really well. Mix things lightly, trying not to damage the vegetables.
13. 13Finally, taste the freshly mixed kimchi. It should taste very fresh but still pretty good. In my case, the cabbage was not salty enough (depending on the type of salt and cabbage, it comes out a little different each time) so I added extra fish sauce (2 Tbs). Adjust yangnyum to taste.
14. 14Put it in a container and let it ferment at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for a few days.