Fresh Cabbage Kimchi (Geotjeori)
Fresh Kimchi (Geotjeori) recipe that's so simple and easy. It's refreshing, light yet so pleasantly flavorful. It's made with just 6 ingredients using fresh red chili pepper which gives it quite a spicy kick while still keeping the flavors bright.
- Prep time
- 10 min
- Cook time
- Not listed
- Yield
- 8 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 2 lb Napa cabbage (approx 1 whole medium size)
- 1/2 cup Korean solar sea salt (Cheonilyeom 천일염)
- 2-3 Fresno red chili peppers
- 3 Tbsp fresh chopped garlic
- 1/2 ripe persimmon (1/2 persimmon is about 3 Tbsp - Hachiya or Fuyu also works if very ripe and soft)
- 3 Tbsp fish sauce (myeolchi aekjeot 멸치액젓 (fermented anchovy sauce))
- 4.5 cups water (if using a brine to pickle)
- 2 green onions or 1/2 Korean Leek (Daepa 대파)
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1/4 tsp sugar - if needed
Instructions
- 1
Cut off 1/2 inch or so of the root end or head part so the leaves separate. Repeat cutting off the head and separating the leaves until all the leaves are loose and no longer attached together.
- 2
In a large bowl, prepare to layer and stack the leaves sprinkling salt in between the leaves. I know this part is kind of hard if you have no feel for how much salt to put on each leaves but you basically want to spread out the salt evenly among the leaves. You can always go back and add more or take out some. Let it sit for 3 hrs.
- 3
Alternatively, you can make a brine by mixing 1:9 ratio of salt:water in volume. e.g. 1 cup salt + 9 cups water. But if you use a brine, it takes longer to pickle the cabbages for about 5 hrs.
- 4
Prepare Yangnyeom (Seasoning)
- 5
Persimmon - scoop out the flesh of a very ripe fruit. The persimmon should be very soft and mushy.
- 6
Chop fresh garlic and chili pepper by knife or with a chopper.
- 7
After 3 hrs, do a test by bending the white part of the leaves to see if it's ready to be rinsed. Once it's fully pickled, rinse the salted cabbage leaves in water a couple of times and let them drain in a colander for 5 min or so.
- 8
Once the leaves are drained, rip each leaf with your hands into smaller pieces. You can cut it with a knife but traditionally Koreans always rip the leaf by hand for Geotjeori so watch my video and try to rip it if you can. To me it just doesn't feel the same if it's cut by a knife. 😝
- 9
In a bowl, mix the ripped cabbage leaves then add garlic, red chili, fish sauce, persimmon and mix well until leaves are all evenly coated.
- 10
Now it's ready to eat! As a last optional finish, you can sprinkle some sesame seeds and a swirl of sesame oil to a plated Geotjeori if you'd like.