Green Cabbage Kimchi (Yangbaechu Kimchi) is simple and easy kimchi to make, especially if you are a beginner to kimchi-making.
Whenever I think about making Kimchi, it reminds me of the days when I was still a newlywed. Since my husband and I were both students, we had to save money whenever we could. And there were many student friends who were in the same boat. One early Saturday morning, a very active neighbor/Korean ajooma (married women) friend knocked at the door. Without asking, she decided that she would help me save money by buying a whole box of napa cabbage between the two of us to make kimchi. So she just dropped a 1/2 box of cabbages at my door. I said it was too much and she told me that this was a great deal and did not want to hear anything else.
Now, I was 3 months pregnant at the time. After I was done making so much kimchi-I think it was about 12 cabbages-I had pain in my stomach that evening. I mean, there were so many cabbages, I had to brine them in our bathtub. I was so worried that it might be something serious. Luckily, I was fine the next day. But, ‘never again’, I told myself -‘ this kimchi-making is just too much work.’ So I never made Kimchi while I was attending graduate school.
But recently, I have been wanting to make Kimchi at home because they taste just so much better when it’s made at home. And when we decided to move to Korea, I realized it would be a great opportunity for me to learn the fine art of making Kimchi from my mother-in-law. She makes one of the best Kimchi I have ever tasted. It’s not too spicy or salty but just right.It tastes fresh but also has a deep and complex flavor in the background.
As the Kimjang(김장) [see my No Crazy Kimchi post for more info] season is just around the corner, I am really looking forward to making some real authentic kimchi with her very soon.
In the meantime, I will start my kimchi posts with a somewhat unconventional Kimchi that my mother-in-law will probably never make – Green Cabbage Kimchi.
Green Cabbage (the regular kind used to make coleslaw) kimchi appeared pretty recently in the Korean food scene, probably because many Koreans who lived outside of Korea could not get any authentic Korean Cabbage (Celery Cabbage is the exact one but Napa Cabbage is very close). I first tasted cabbage kimchi in 1976 when we moved to India. With no access to any kind of Korean vegetable, the only vegetable we could get was the good old cabbage. I actually did not like it as a kid. I thought it only made me miss the real Korean kimchi more. But now, I actually like it and enjoy it. There’s a lightness in flavor to Green Cabbage Kimchi that makes it go better with some foods than regular kimchi which can sometimes overpower other dishes.
Making Green Cabbage kimchi is also pretty easy so I think it is a great one to start with if you have never made Kimchi before.
Green Cabbage Kimchi Recipe
Servings: 10 Prep Time: 1 hr Cooking Time: 5 min Difficulty: Medium
Step by Step Directions
- Cut cabbage into halves and cut out the core.
Cut cabbage in half and cut the core - Cut into 1 to 1.5 in width pieces -> into squares.
Cutting Cabbage into squares - Rinse cabbage and drain.
- Salt the cabbage by mixing it with saltwater.
- Mix 3 C water and 3 T sea salt.
- In a large bowl, put half of the cabbage and add the saltwater.
- Sprinkle 1 T sea salt on top of the cabbage.
- Add remaining cabbage and toss.
- Let the cabbage sit in saltwater for 1 hour. Tossing 2-3 times to make sure the saltwater reaches the cabbages evenly.
Cabbage pickling in salted water
- In the meantime, prepare the kimchi yangnyeom (seasoning) by finely chopping garlic, onion, red pepper and ginger in a chopper. * If using a blender (as in my pic), add 4 T fish sauce because it will not chop without additional liquid.
- Wash and clean green onions and chives. Cut green onions and chives into similar length pieces (2 in or so) and set aside.
- In about 1 hour, check the cabbage to see if it is ready. Except for very thick pieces, it should easily bend like so –
- Rinse and drain cabbage.
- In a large bowl, add the cabbage, yangnyum, green onions and chives.
- Wear plastic gloves (or your hand will be smelling of kimchi all day) and mix everything together really well. Mix things lightly – trying not to damage the vegetables.
- Finally, taste the freshly mixed kimchi. It should taste very fresh but still pretty good. In my case, the cabbages were 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 T. Unfortunately, Kimchi is not an exact science and you have to basically develop a feel for what it should taste like when it’s raw and then when it’s fully ripe and how you like the taste to be. Adjust yangnyum to taste.
- Put green cabbage kimchi in a container and let it ferment at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for few days. Refer to my No Crazy Kimchi post for more detailed info on fermentation.
When chopping the yangnyum, don’t kill it and make it into a smoothie 🙂 . Stop when the you can still see each piece. Add 1 T sugar and 2 T 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.
For a more traditional flavor –
- Use 5 T Myulchi Ackjeot(멸치액젓) or 4 T Saewoojeot (새우젓) for more traditional kimchi taste. Because I wanted to make a kimchi with ingredients that you can hopefully buy from your local asian market, I used a commonly found Thai fish sauce and it turned out really good too!
Notes
- I recently (9/27/2018) made this kimchi with my sister and we increased the spicy level by using 3 (instead of 2) fresh red chili pepper and 4 Tbs (instead of 3) red chili powder. And it turned out wonderful!
- The great thing about this kimchi is that it taste great fresh or fermented. So enjoy it on the day you made it or few days after. But remember to avoid the Crazy stage!
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.Prep: 1 hourCook: 5 minutesTotal Time: 1 hour 5 minutesserves: 10Ingredients
- 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
For Yangnyum (Seasoning) :
- 2 fresh red chili pepper
- 2 oz garlic (peeled)
- 1/2 tsp fresh ginger (chopped)
- ½ 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
- Cut cabbage into halves and cut out the core.
- Cut into 1 to 1.5 in width square pieces.
- Rinse cabbage and drain.
- Salt 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.)
- Let the cabbage sit in salt water for 1 hour. Toss 2-3 times to make sure the salt water reaches the cabbage evenly.
- In 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.
- When 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.
- Wash and clean green onions and chives. Cut green onions and chives into similar length pieces (2 in or so) and set aside.
- In about 1 hour, check the cabbage to see if it is ready. Except for very thick pieces, it should easily bend.
- Rinse and drain cabbage.
- In a large bowl, add the cabbage, yangnyum, green onions, and chives.
- Wear 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.
- Finally, 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.
- Put it in a container and let it ferment at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for a few days.
Tips & Notes:
- For a more traditional flavor, use 5 Tbs Myulchi Ackjeot(멸치액젓) or 4 Tbs Saewoojeot (새우젓). Because I wanted to make a kimchi with ingredients that you can hopefully buy from your local asian market, I used a commonly found Thai fish sauce and it turned out really good too!
- Kimchi is not an exact science and you have to basically develop a feel for what it should taste like when it’s raw and then when it’s fully ripe and how you like the taste to be. Refer to my No Crazy Kimchi post for more detailed info on fermentation.
- The great thing about this kimchi is that it taste great fresh or fermented. So enjoy it on the day you made it or a few days after. But remember to avoid the Crazy stage!
Nutrition Information:
Calories: 52kcal (3%)| Carbohydrates: 11g (4%)| Protein: 2g (4%)| Sodium: 790mg (34%)| Potassium: 297mg (8%)| Fiber: 3g (13%)| Sugar: 5g (6%)| Vitamin A: 1045IU (21%)| Vitamin C: 53.7mg (65%)| Calcium: 69mg (7%)| Iron: 1.1mg (6%)
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I just made this last evening and it tasted great fresh. Waiting for the fermentation to work its magic. I am sure, like other reviews have stated, using non-korean ingredients does alter the taste of the kimchi, but I am living in the Himalayan foothills and am just happy that I can make decent kimchi here for myself. Grateful for your recipe <3
Wow! As I think I wrote in my post, I lived in India so Himalayas was not too far! And yes, it’s not exactly the same but it’s still good in its own way.
When storing the kimchi in a jar to ferment, should it be covered with liquid? I have mine in a Mason jar, and there is only about 1 inch of liquid in the bottom of the jar. Am I doing this right?
It is best that it is covered (not necessarily fully but as wet as possible) in liquid. Did you just make this? then you will likely have very little liquid in the jar. You will get more liquid over time – usually there will be enough liquid to just barely cover the kimchi after 24 hrs or so. Take a look at it frequently and press things down a couple times. If you feel that there’s still too little liquid after 1-2 days then you can always add a bit of extra liquid (make a very lightly salted water).but not so much that the kimchi is swimming in it.And only add liquid in the first 2 days or so. Not after it’s fully ripen. Let me know how it goes.
This sounds good and easy. Most of the ingredients are already in my kitchen. I dislike fish/fish sauce. Is it alright to leave it out of the recipe? Is there a substitute for it? I already know I love eating Kimchi but some taste more fishy than others.
Well, it will be missing a flavor but if you don’t like it, you can try making it without it. You can try substituting Guk Ganjang (Korean Soy sauce for Soup) if you have it. Otherwise, I am afraid there’s not good substitute for it that will give you authentic Kimchi flavor. Thank you for asking.
Wow! I don’t get the traditional cabbage so I’m really excited for this recipe! I just made my first ever batch of kimchi with a round head cabbage but used a Napa cabbage recipe – I’m not sure how it turned out yet… Too early to say. But this recipe gives me hope for the next time!
Fabulous!! I’d be curious to know how you like the traditional kimchi recipe with green cabbage? my green cabbage kimchi recipe is on the lighter side to highlight the sweetness and crunch of the cabbage. My mom even enjoys it for breakfast because it’s so mild. Thank you so much for leaving me this lovely comment and wish you all the best with your kimchi!
Thank you for such a thorough recipe; we tried it: the kimchi didn’t come out quite right, but I am sure it’s down to the quality of cabbage, not enough salting, and the particular fish sauce I’ve got. It’s still okay, but hopefully next time it will taste more like the awesome kimchi we had in Korea.
Oh dear.. Kimchi is such a fickle thing to make..honestly, even my mother-in-law who has been making Kimchi for almost 60 years still have times when it doesn’t come out right. Quality of cabbage has great affect on the out come, yes, salting is important, also the quality of salt. I hope you used Korean solar salt, right? And fish sauce certainly can make the difference too. Best way to improve the Kimchi is to just let it fully ferment (see my No Crazy Kimchi on how to ferment properly) – it will taste pretty good in the end. Oh and the quality of gochukaru (korean chili pepper powder) also has an impact too. Sadly, it will be very hard to make Kimchi as awesome as the ones in Korea due to the different ingredients but thank you so much for trying. I will always try to improve the recipe so that it’s more fool proof.
Thank you for writing back; well, my ingredients are all decidedly non-Korean as I am in Morocco, so using local mountain salt and fresh red chilis. I had a Korean friend here make a great kimchi with local ingredients, so I am not going to give up. I will let my first batch ferment longer (taking out a little for a salad); I’ve previously fermented just cabbage Russian style, so I think a bit more sourness will definitely help. I read your post on ‘crazy kimchi’ also; fascinating detail! Thanks again.
Sure. Of all things, I think the salt can be the most important. Non solar sea salt can have a bitter flavor at the end. But since your friend succeeded perhaps it’s doable with the mountain salt. Just use the same salt she uses. Fresh red chilis should work. Good luck and keep on trying!