Fresh Cabbage Kimchi Recipes

Steps:

• Dry-brine the cabbage: Rinse the cabbage quarters under cold running water and place on a large rimmed sheet pan. Generously salt the cabbage all over, making sure to season between the leaves as well as the outsides. (Don't worry about being too precise; since the cabbages leak water, the salt will distribute evenly into the brine.) Set aside to brine at room temperature, cut sides up, until the hard leaves become limp and soggy, about 4 hours, flipping once or twice halfway through. During this brining time, the cabbage quarters should release plenty of water into the sheet pan.
• Make the sauce: Quarter one of the apples, leaving it unpeeled. Core it, coarsely chop it, then add it to a food processor. Add the onion, garlic and ginger, and process until finely chopped. Add the mixture to a large bowl and stir in the fish sauce, gochugaru and sugar. Peel the remaining apple, quarter it, core it, then thinly slice it crosswise. Fold the chopped scallions and thinly sliced apple into the sauce.
• Rinse the salted cabbage quarters under cold running water, squeezing them of their excess liquid. Place one cabbage quarter into the bowl with the sauce. With clean hands, smear 1/4 of the sauce all over the outsides and between each leaf, tucking in the larger pieces of scallions and apple as well. Fold the cabbage quarter in half crosswise, gathering the leafy tail ends together and bringing them up and over the root end, to create a compact bundle. Place the bundle in the jar and repeat with the remaining three cabbage quarters until you have used up most of the sauce and the jar is filled with sauced cabbage, leaving about an inch of room on top. (A few air gaps are fine; they'll fill with liquid over time.) Top the jar with any remaining sauce left behind in the bowl. Loosely close with a lid (see Tip). You can wash your hands at this stage.
• Let the jar of kimchi begin fermenting on the kitchen counter at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. After this, the cabbage should have released even more of its liquid; it's OK if the liquid doesn't completely cover the cabbage at this point, though it may. (This is a very juicy recipe.) Refrigerate the kimchi to finish fermenting until it's sour, 2 to 3 weeks and up to 6 months, at which point it will be very, very sour and should be eaten or turned into jjigae. Check (and taste!) the kimchi every 2 to 3 days both to familiarize yourself with the fermentation process but also to allow gas to escape, which you can do by opening the lid every so often. As you go through the jar over time, take out one cabbage quarter at a time and chop it into bite-size pieces to serve. You can eat the core or toss it.

Steps:

• Cut the cabbages in half lengthwise and trim the ends. Rinse and cut into pieces about 2 inch square. Place the cabbage into large resealable bags and sprinkle salt on the leaves so they are evenly coated. Use your hands to rub the salt in to the leaves. Seal the bags and leave at room temperature for 6 hours.
• Rinse the salt from the cabbage leaves and then drain and squeeze out any excess liquid. Place the cabbage in a large container with a tight fitting lid. Stir in the fish sauce, green onions, white onion, garlic, sugar and ginger. Sprinkle the Korean chile powder over the mixture. Wear plastic gloves to protect your hands and rub the chile powder into the cabbage leaves until evenly coated. Seal the container and set in a cool dry place. Leave undisturbed for 4 days. Refrigerate before serving, and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month (if it lasts that long!).

Steps:

• Remove outer leave from cabbages and quarter each lengthwise; remove and discard cores. Slice each quarter crosswise into 2-inch pieces.
• Fill a clean sink with cold water and add cabbage to the water; let dirt and grit sink to bottom. Remove cabbage from water, leaving dirt behind. Drain sink and rinse. Refill sink with water and repeat process.
• Using very large bowls, layer cabbage with salt; let stand 45 minutes. Using your hands, toss cabbage, and let stand 45 minutes more. Fill sink with cold water and add cabbage to the water. Remove cabbage; drain sink and rinse; repeat process to remove all the salt.
• Fill a large saucepan with 3 cups water; whisk in rice powder. Bring rice powder mixture to a simmer over low heat, whisking constantly, until mixture thickens, about 3 minutes. Add sugar and cook 1 minute more. Remove saucepan from heat and let cool completely. To speed cooling process, fill a large bowl with ice water. Submerge pot into ice-water bath until liquid is cooled.
• Place ginger, garlic, and onion in the jar of a blender or bowl of a food processor; puree until smooth. Add fish sauce and mix to combine.
• Place cooled rice powder mixture, ginger mixture, radish, scallions, red pepper powder, and salted shrimp in a large bowl. Wearing disposable plastic gloves and, using your hands, mix until well combined. Add cabbage and continue mixing until well combined.
• Transfer cabbage mixture to six glass quart containers or a large plastic container, packing cabbage tightly to remove as much air as possible. Place plastic wrap directly on surface of cabbage before covering containers with lids. Let stand at room temperature for 2 to 4 days. Transfer to refrigerator for up to 6 months. Be sure to press down on kimchi to remove as much air as possible after each use.