Ingredients:
For six to eight quarts:
5 to 6 pounds napa cabbage (3 or 4 medium to large heads)
2 lbs daikon radish
2 cups chopped yellow onion
3 to 4 medium-large carrots
10 to 20 cloves peeled garlic
4 cups chopped green onions
5 to 6 inches fresh ginger
1 cup salt, not iodized (kosher salt, sea salt, just plain salt...)
1 and ¼ cups gochugaru, Korean chili flakes (you can use more or less depending on your taste)
2 heaping tablespoons glutinous rice powder
1 cup water
½ cup sugar
1 cup fish sauce (natural, no MSG fish sauce with very few ingredients)
1 to 2 teaspoons dried, shredded shrimp (again, you can use more if you like but it's pretty strong)
For 3 to 4 quarts:
2 and ½ to 3 pounds napa cabbage (typically two heads unless they're larger heads)
1 lb daikon radish
1 cup chopped yellow onion
2 medium-large carrots
6 to 10 cloves peeled garlic
2 cups chopped green onions
3 inches fresh ginger
½ cup salt
¾ cup gochugaru
1 heaping tablespoon glutinous rice powder
½ cup water
¼ cup sugar
½ cup fish sauce
½ to 1 teaspoon dried, shredded shrimp
Process cabbage, carrots. Peel off outer leaves if they look bad, cut remaining cabbage head in quarters, lengthwise, remove cores, cut into roughly 1 and ½ to 2 inch squares (I just slice the quarters every inch and a half or 2 inches) and place in a very large bowl or a small tub. Peel and julienne the carrots (or you can grate them with the coarsest grater you have, or just chop them kind of small any way you can) and add to cabbage. Add salt and mix/massage the cabbage for at least three minutes so the salt can soften it and draw moisture out of it. Add enough chlorine-free water to cover and place something on it to press it down into the water, let sit for at least 1-1/2 hours but not much more than 2, during which time other prep can be done. At some point before mixing all ingredients together, rinse the cabbage (using non-chlorinated water) and drain it in a large colander for at least 10 to 15 minutes.
Prepare rice powder. Add glutinous rice powder to water in a saucepan, bring to a boil whisking continuously. When it looks like glue turn off the heat and remove pan from hot burner and continue whisking until it cools a bit. Set aside to cool.
Prepare vegetables. Put ginger, 1/3 of daikon (chopped), yellow onion, and garlic in food processor or blender and process into a thick paste. Cut remaining daikon into 3 inch lengths and quarter lengthwise, then slice thin. Chop green onions into one inch lengths.
Prepare chili paste. Whisk together the rice paste, gochugaru (Korean chili flakes), fish sauce, sugar, and shredded shrimp. Add to processed vegetables and mix well.
Finally, mix all ingredients together (after rinsing and draining the cabbage) in your big bowl or tub, wearing gloves. Pack into jars leaving at least 2 inches space at the top. Cover with any lid that will allow gas to escape without letting air in. Store at room temperature but out of direct sunlight until it's as sour as you want it to get (taste after 2 days), then refrigerate. I usually let it ferment at least five days. It will continue to ferment, though more slowly, in the fridge so you might want to leave your fermentation lid on it, or remember to burp it every few days for a while. If you're using a fermentation lid* it's not really necessary but I like to cover the kimchi with something, usually some rigid plastic mesh (called plastic canvas) I buy at a fabric store, and put a glass weight on it. If you tend to check the kimchi often you might need a pump (they come with most fermentation lids) to pull out the air that gets in when you open the jar.
*If you look online, searching “fermentation lids for canning jars,” you'll see a number of products including the Easy Fermenter brand lids. Most lids with a rubber valve built into them, which allows gas to escape, come with a hand pump for pulling air out when you have opened the jar to taste or examine whatever you're fermenting; this makes it harder for undesirable bacteria to grow on your food as it ferments.
Random notes: The dried, ground shrimp may be difficult to find. Another option might be to use small, dried shrimp, and process, perhaps in an electric coffee grinder.
It can help to add a little extra brine to try to keep the kimchi submerged early in fermentation. I sometimes add some leftover brine from homemade, lacto-fermented pickles, and often I have a jar in the fridge of just extra brine, made from filtered water with about 5 tablespoons of salt per 2 quarts of water. I add a little more than what is enough to cover the kimchi. When I make it in a gallon jar I use heavy glass weights (ordered online and part of the Easy Fermenter system) on a disc of plastic canvas, from a fabric store, to press the kimchi to keep it submerged. (Update: a little more research seems to indicate plastic mesh from fabrics/crafts stores is probably not food safe. Switching to a Gucuji product made for dehydrating. Will continue to use plastic mesh for sprouting lids because actual exposure, in that application, is very minimal.) It looks like there's a lot of extra liquid when I do that but the kimchi expands as soon as the weights are removed and it looks normal again. I use a wooden tamper to pack the kimchi into jars. I made the one I use but these can be ordered online.
A few more notes... I've learned not to use stainless steel bowls to soak the salted cabbage as the salt causes rust-colored spots of surface corrosion on the metal; I'm working on collecting a few very large bowls that are either ceramic or glass. Today I tried using some tiny dried shrimp, processed in a small electric chopper, in place of the shredded or powdered stuff, so we'll see how that works. I've been using more gochugaru than this recipe calls for because a couple people said my kimchi could be spicier, but you'll just have to experiment to see how much is enough for you. As for the ginger--some recipes say it should be peeled, and others say nothing about peeling it. I kind of split the difference, peeling what I can quickly and easily, paring off anything too dry or funky looking. When I rinse the cabbage I pour lots of filtered water over it, usually using about two filter pitchers' worth of water for 3 to 4 lbs of cabbage. Many recipes instruct one to cut the daikon into matchsticks but I prefer to quarter the radish and make 1/8" slices from the quarters because I like the texture of those little wedges of daikon in my kimchi. All for now--might add to this later.
Below is my wooden tamper for packing sauerkraut and kimchi into jars. Seventeen inches long, two and three quarters in diameter at the business end. Made from some kind of hardwood furniture leg, extended with part of a fir tool handle. Doweled together at the joint, with expanding polyurethane glue. I wash it with water, no soap, let it dry and (try to remember to) go over the whole thing with coconut oil before the next time I use it. In the fist photo I'm just about to drain the cabbage and mix everything together, and you can see the glass bowl I found at Goodwill, capacity about two gallons. Heavy, but perfect size and shape. Inside the bowl is a glass microwave carousel being used to press the cabbage, and a larger one serves as a lid to keep out dust and bugs.
