White kimchi without chili

My younger son loves kimchi. He likes to eat spicy - but not all the tkme. That's why we sometimes like to make baek-kimchi, white kimchi without chili, together. I found this recipe at Maangchi’s website and adapted it a bit. Some of the Korean ingredients are not available everywhere, I have written down alternatives for you. The right season for this ferment is late summer and fall when the ingredients are in season.

INGREDIENTS

PREPARATION

Cut the stalk of the napa cabbage into quarters at the bottom, then tear apart. Wash. Salt thoroughly between the leaves. Let it stand weighted down with plate and weight so that the cabbage draws water and becomes soft. This takes a few hours - or overnight.

Rinse the softened cabbage well with fresh water to remove the salt.

Puree the peeled, quartered pear, garlic, quartered onion and peeled ginger with a hand blender or in the kitchen machine until smooth. In a large bowl, mix a 2% brine of 800ml water with 16 grams of salt and hang the puree in a cheesecloth in the brine.

While the brine is flavored, squeeze the aroma out with a wooden spoon from time to time and prepare the vegetables.

Cut vegetables

Cut the radish or kohlrabi and carrot in julienne. Remove the seeds from the jujube and also cut into fine strips. Add the Asian chives or scallions chopped into about 3cm long pieces.

Spread the vegetable filling between each leaf of the cabbage. Then roll up the cabbage quarters like roulades and stuff them into an flip-top jar. And I mean stuff it, really press it in properly.

Remove the cheesecloth with the solid pulp from the brine and cover the cabbage quarters in the glass with the flavoured brine up to the top. Maybe there is too much brine. The rest can be used on the fly as a dip for the rest of the radish, which tastes extremely delicious! It's a wonderful starter or tasty snack.

Put the jar in the kitchen for fermentation until the brine ferments and turns sour. This depends on the temperature and takes 1-3 days. A good sign is the cloudiness of the brine. Then put the kimchi in the fridge where it will continue to flavor for 1-2 weeks before it's ready.

Baek kimchi should be consumed quickly and is not intended for long storage. If you want to store napa cabbage or radish for a long time, I recommend you make baechu kimchi or kkakduki kimchi.