Baechu Kimchi (Korean Spicy Pickled Napa Cabbage)

Source: http://www.whats4eats.com, http://www.epicurious.com


Prep time: 5-6 hrs + 30 mins

Spicy pickled and fermented Napa cabbage is the most popular and recognizable form of kimchi.  It is not only good as a side dish to almost every Korean meal, but it is also the foundation for many soups, stews, stir fries, and rice dishes.

Cure time: 2-3 days


Ingredients:
Napa cabbage, ~1.5kg size, cut into quarters or 2" wedges, 2 units
Coarse salt*, 300g

Stuffing Paste Mixture:
Korean dried shrimp**, 90g
Kochukaru (Korean chilli pepper powder), 70g
Onion, cleaned & peeled & finely chopped, 100g
Garlic, cleaned & peeled & finely chopped, 7 cloves
Ginger, 1 inch size, cleaned & peeled & finely chopped, 1 pc
Radish, cleaned & peeled & finely chopped, 300g
Scallion, cleaned & cut into 1" length, 2 stalks
Salt, 2 tbsp
Sugar, 2 tbsp

* Can substitue with Kosher salt
** Can substitute with fish sauce



Method:
1. Mix napa cabbage with coarse salt in large non-metal bowl.  Toss well, then cover with clingwrap and set aside to stand for 5-6 hrs.

2. After 5-6 hrs, the cabbage should be soften.  Rinse cabbage under water and squeeze out as much water as possible to remove excess curing salt.

3. Mix well all stuffing paste ingredients.  Place stuffing between softened cabbage leaves, starting with largest leaf to smallest, working from outside in.  Do not overstuff, but make sure radish mixture adequately fills leaves.  When entire cabbage is stuffed, take one of the larger leaves and wrap tightly around the rest of the cabbage.  Divide cabbage among 4 (1-quart) jars or 1-gallon jar, pressing down firmly to remove any air bubbles.  Cover with lid and let it stand to ferment for 2-3 days in dark & cool place before serving.  Open lid occasionally to release pressure from carbon dioxide formed during fermentation

4. Remove Kimchi from jar and cut into 1" length piece.  Tranfer to a new container and keep in refrigerator.



Serving:
1. For kimchi fermented <3 wks, it can be eaten straight.

2. For kimchi fermented >4 wks, it will be too fermented to eat straight.  It is recommended to use it instead in cooking, e.g. stew, pancake, fried rice, etc.