Big Batch Vegan Kimchi

This Big Batch Vegan Kimchi recipe calls for 10 napa cabbages and will yield between 22 and 24 litres of kimchi. If you’re going to make kimchi, you might as well go big, right? You’re going to need some help, gigantic mixing containers, and possibly a second fridge. (I’m only half joking about the second fridge.)

By Korean standards, this is a tiny recipe. When it’s kimchi making time in Korea, families will team up to kimchi-fy 100’s of cabbages at a time. I lived in Korea for 3 and a half years, during which time I developed a deep and abiding love for this spicy, fermented, cabbage accompaniment to EVERYTHING.

The Big Batch Vegan Kimchi recipe included here is coming to you from a Korean friend and former roommate of mine – Minsoo Cho. (Thank you Minsoo!)

Minsoo’s family actually cultivates the specific pepper used to make kimchi in South Korea. How cool is that? We made this kimchi together many times over the past few years, and I’m really excited to be sharing it with you now. The only reason I’m sharing it and she isn’t is because I have a blog 🙂 I’m also sharing it because it’s really delicious, and surely someone out there will find a recipe for a big batch of vegan kimchi useful!

But can you even make vegan kimchi? What about the fish paste?

Have no fear, you can make delicious Kimchi without fish!

My favourite kimchi while I lived in Korea was always the kimchi served at temples, and people: Temple Food is Vegan! (Seriously, go click on that link. The photos are stunning) I wasn’t vegan at the time, so I did compare vegan kimchi to fishy kimchi, and I still preferred vegan version.

It’s all about the garlic, the ginger, the gochugaru, and the fermentation! Fish parts, my friends, are not required.

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How to approach making a Big batch of Vegan Kimchi with friends.

As I mentioned above, you’re probably going to want some help. I recommend sharing the work with a friend or three. Typically we do this with two other friends and then split the spoils. It goes like this:

1. One person does the shopping and salting of the cabbages the night before kimchi-making day.
2. Friends come over on kimchi-making day and we share the work load of rinsing and squeezing the salted cabbage, making the paste, mixing and jarring everything.
3. We work out a price per litre and everyone pays for what they take.
4. You may want to consider giving the person who does the shopping and salting a little extra off the top, because that part is a lot of work! Alternatively, depending on where you live, you might be able to buy pre-salted cabbages from a Korean grocer. It’s worth looking into if you’re in a big city.

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INGREDIENTS

Yield: 22 to 24 litres

• 10 napa cabbages
• 10 cups of salt (don’t worry, it gets rinsed off!)
• 2 cups fresh garlic
• 1 cup fresh, peeled ginger
• 2 large yellow onions
• 4 asian pears
• 2 large diakons
• 5 bunches of green onions
• 2 cups soy sauce
• 9 cups gochugaru
• 1 cup rice flour + 10 cups water
• 1 scant cup of sugar, optional

FIRST: Salt the cabbages

These are direct instructions from Minsoo’s mom, for the fastest way. It takes about 3 hours, but can be extended to overnight if you want to divide the work into two days.

1. Chop the cabbages and place them on a tray, or spread them between bowls and baking dishes.
2. Sprinkle generously with kosher salt (about 1 cup per cabbage.)
3. Massage the the cabbage and salt together for a few minutes.
4. Pour slightly warm water mixed with a half cup of kosher salt on the top (the cabbage doesnt have to be perfectly submerge)
5. After an hour and a half, give everything a big stir. Then wait another hour and a half.
6. Check to see if the cabbage is ready. Does it snap if you bend i t? It’s not ready. Let it sit a while long. If it’s soft enough not to snap when you bend it, it’s ready! Proceed to the next step.
7. Place the cabbage in a colander and RINSE RINSE RINSE of all of the salt.
8. Now you are ready to make kimchi!

SECOND: Make the paste

1. In a large sauce pan, bring one cup of rice flour to a simmer with 10 cups of water, until it thickens, then set aside to cool.
2. In a food processor, puree each of the following, then transfer into a gigantic bowl:
   • 2 cups of garlic
   • 1 cup of ginger
   • 2 cups of yellow onion
   • 4 cups asian pear
3. Grate 2 big daikons,or cut them into matchsticks if you’re fancy. Add them to the bowl.
4. Rough chop about 5 bunches of spring onion. Add it to the bowl.
5. Add 2 cups of soy sauce, 9 cups gochujaru, and one scant cup of sugar.  Mix well.
6. When the rice flour and water mixture has cooled, add it to the bowl and mix well. Your paste is now ready!

Third: Mix the salted, rinsed cabbage with the paste

1. Now you’re going to mix everything as thoroughly as possible. Wash your hands and then prepare to get dirty! You might want to use gloves for this step.

Finally – Jar, ferment and store.

1. Transfer your kimchi into clean, airtight storage containers. Leave some headspace as the kimchi may bubble during fermentation. If you fill your containers too full, the liquid will spill out and you’ll have a stinky mess to clean up.
2. Ferment at room temperature for 2 days. It’s wise to do this with your containers sitting on something like a sheet pan. Then if they happen to overflow (because you didn’t leave enough headspace as mentioned above) the mess will be easy to clean up.
3. Store it in the fridge!

Your kimchi is officially ready to be eaten!

Fresh kimchi has it’s own unique appeal, as does older, more deeply fermented kimchi. My favourite kimchi is the stuff that’s been slowly fermenting in the fridge for 6 months or more, but I like it fresh as well. Experiment! Enjoy! Find out how you like it.

There are a million delicious ways to try kimchi here, at TheKoreanVegan.com

I like to sneak it into tacos, put it on top of burgers, or just enjoy it with a warm bowl of brow rice and veggies. 맛있어!

I would be absolutely delighted to hear from you if you try this recipe. Please leave a comment!