Napa Cabbage Kimchi
Salted cabbage packed with chili paste and left to sour on the counter — a condiment that does more work the longer you leave it alone.
- Serves
- 12
- Prep
- 45 min
- Cook
- 2 days (fermenting)
- Written
Method
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Toss the cabbage with the salt in a large bowl, working the salt into every leaf.
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Let sit at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours, tossing once or twice, until the leaves have gone limp and a pool of liquid has collected in the bowl.
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Rinse the cabbage under cold water three times to wash off the excess salt, then drain in a colander for 15 minutes.
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Stir the gochugaru, garlic, ginger, fish sauce, and sugar together into a thick, deep red paste.
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Add the daikon and scallions to the paste and toss to coat.
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Massage the paste through the drained cabbage with gloved hands until every leaf is stained red.
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Pack everything tightly into a large jar, pressing down until the brine that rises covers the vegetables, and leave an inch of headspace at the top.
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Cover loosely and leave at room temperature for 1 to 2 days, until it smells sharply sour and small bubbles rise when you press the vegetables down.
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Taste once a day after that; once it’s as sour as you like, seal tightly and move it to the fridge.
Notes
The salting step is the whole point, not a formality — it pulls water out of the cabbage to build the brine that keeps everything submerged and starved of air, which is what lets it sour instead of just rot. A loose lid matters too: the fermentation throws off real gas, and a sealed jar will let you know about it the hard way.
It keeps improving in the fridge for weeks, going softer and more sour the longer it sits, so don’t rush to eat it all at once. Past the point of eating it straight, the liquid that collects at the bottom is worth saving for stirring into fried rice or a pot of soup.