Recipe : Easy Homemade Kimchi

Don't you love Kimchi like I do ? Actually, it is very easy to make !





Ok, Covid and Quarantine has made us do many things, right ? Many of us started to make Sourdough, Kombucha, and 'TikToks' Duh ! Ok I'm not really fond of the last one, but this quarantine made me learnt to experiment recipes. One of them is of course, Kimchi ! 

I do love Kimchi, I love its tanginess, spicy, and very good for Gut Health too ! I do have a little bit problems with my Gut Health lately. That's why I try to consume fermented foods such as Kimchi and Kombucha. But the problem is, when buy Kimchi in the supermarket here in Jakarta, the price is quite expensive. And then, the taste is oftenly too fermented, so it's quite sour to eat. 

That's why I prefer to made it by my own. You can adjust the taste to your liking, and apparently, its a lot lot cheaper ! It is very easy to make too ! So I hope you can try this recipe ;)

First of all, you need to soaked Napa Cabbage in Salted Water. You can cut them in small size to make it easier. This is a very important step in making Kimchi. Make sure you put manyyyy salt in it, and you soaked it for 1 - 2 hours. You can check it regularly by trying to bend it until its became like a texture of rubber. It doesn't snap easily, that's when you know its ready.

After that you can start to make the paste. Just blend everything, and you can adjust the taste to your liking. If you want it to be more spicy, you can add more Gochugaru ( Red pepper flakes ). BTW you have to use Korean Gochugaru to make Kimchi. It's just different when you use regular red pepper flakes! The korean gives a more depth and smokey flavor to the kimchi. 


After that, mix it all together and put in a glass jar. Put in a room temperature for 1 to 3 days, with no direct sunlight please ! Depends on your room temperature, the kimchi will ferment according how hot or cool the weather is. Second time I made my Kimchi, it was super hot in Jakarta. It only took  2 days to ferment ! 

How do you know its ready  ? If you see bubbles and gas creating in your kimchi, it means the process of fermentation is going! Everyday, you have to take a spoon and taste it. It could takes 2 days, 3 days, or maybe 4 days ! If its already perfect to your taste, just pop it in the fridge and it will slower the fermentation. Oh... everyday you have to 'pushed' the ingredients, make sure it all covers in the 'sauce'. When it is fermenting, it tends to going up because of the gas in it. Make sure you use Clean utensils when making Kimchi, to prevent mold or any troubles. 

For more step by step guide, you can check on my instagram post here ! ( and in Bahasa Indonesia too ) 

Easy Kimchi Recipe 
for around 1 - 1.5kg Kimchi

Ingredients : 

1 Large Napa Cabbage
2 Carrots
1/2 Radish
1 Bunch of Chives
1 stalk Spring Onion
5 cloves Garlic
1/2 Onion
100gr Ginger
2 Pear
5 - 8 tbsp Fish Sauce
200gr Gochujang ( Korean Pepper Paste )
2 tbsp Gochugaru ( Korean Red Pepper )
100gr Sea Salt

Method :

1. Cut Napa Cabbage in smaller pieces. Wash them, 'massage' with Sea Salt. Add water until it is soak thoroughly. Wait until 1 - 2 hours, and then wash it with clean water.

2. Cut Carrots, Radish, Spring Onion, Chives. 

3. Blend the rest of the ingredients and make a paste. Mix all together and put it in a clean glass jar. 

4. Put in the room temperature for 1- 4 days depends on your temperatures.

5. Pop it in refrigerator after it is fermented. 

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