Korean Radish Kimchi 2

Recently, I learned some new techniques about how to make radish kimchi that tastes like what you would get at a Korean restaurant. Compared to my first radish kimchi recipe, this asks for many more ingredients, but those extra secret ingredients and special tips will help you get a very delicious Korean radish kimchi called Ggakdugi in Korean. As it is a little more complicated than the other recipe (which is great because it is simpler to make), my second radish kimchi recipe has a more flavorful result. Both recipes are good though. Anyway, once you make this radish kimchi, you can enjoy it with your Korean meal and other sides. Try it someday and let me know which recipe you prefer.

Yield: 4 lb

Short Korean Lesson

• HyungTeo (흉터) = Scar
• JaGeuk (자극) = stimulus

Video Instructions

Main Ingredients

• 2 Medium-Sized Korean Radishes (4 lb)
• 6 Cups Hot Water
• ⅓ Generous Cup Coarse Sea Salt
• ¼ Cup Hot Pepper Powder
• 1 Generous Cup Green Onion
• 1 Tbsp Sesame Seeds

Kimchi Paste Ingredients

• ½ Cup Hot Pepper Powder
• ½ Cup Onion
• ½ Cup Asian Pear
• 1 Bottle Korean or American Yogurt Drink
• 6 Cloves Garlic
• 2 Tbsp Salted Shrimp
• 1½ Tbsp Fish Sauce
• 1 Tbsp Sugar
• 1 Fresh Ginger Piece (The size of a garlic clove)

Sweet Rice Paste Ingredients

• ¾ Cup Water
• 3 Tbsp Sweet Rice Flour

Directions

First, we will need 2 medium-sized Korean radishes. Peel and cut them into ½ inch cubes. You need about 4 lb total.

Put the radish in a large mixing bowl and pour 6 cups of hot water on it. This helps the radish absorb the kimchi paster better later. Set it aside for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, let’s make some sweet rice flour paste for the kimchi paste. This paste is important because it helps the fermentation process. Mix ¾ cup water and 3 Tbsp sweet rice flour in a small pot. Keep stirring it until the sweet rice flour is completely mixed into the water.

Cook for about 2 minutes on medium high, or until it starts bubbling and thickens. Turn off the heat and let it cool down.

20 minutes later, drain the water for the radish. The radish will be a little warm.

Put the radish back into the same large bowl and mix it with about ⅓ generous cup of coarse sea salt. Set it aside for about 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, you will see that the salt is drawing water out of the radish.

Quickly rinse the radish once in cold water. Don’t rinse it too much, or you will loose too much of the salt.

Drain out the water.

Add ¼ cup of hot pepper powder to the radish and mix it. This gives the radish good color and flavor. Set it aside. The radish preparation is done, so let’s make the delicious kimchi paste.

You will need to blend these ingredients together for the kimchi paste: ½ cup onion, ½ cup Asian pear, 1 bottle of Korean or American Yogurt drink, 6 cloves garlic, 2 Tbsp salted shrimp, and 1 piece of ginger the size of a garlic clove. The salted shrimp is a very important ingredient for tasty radish kimchi. Make sure you only use the shrimp pieces, not the salty liquid from it. The liquid can make your kimchi too salty. Chop the onion and Asian pear into chunks. You can also cut 1 generous cup worth of green onions into ½ inch pieces. We will use the green onions later.

Put all the kimchi paste ingredients in a blender.

Blend them for a minute, or until everything becomes a nice and smooth paste.

Now, let’s make the kimchi paste. Add the sweet rice flour paste, blended mixture, ½ cup hot pepper powder, 1½ Tbsp fish sauce, and 1 Tbsp of sugar. Mix everything together.

Add the kimchi paste and chopped green onions into the radish. Mix everything together.

For the final touch, sprinkle 1 Tbsp of sesame seeds on top and mix everything gently one more time.

Put the radish kimchi in a kimchi container and let sit it at room temperature for a day. Then put it in the refrigerator. Depending on the weather and your refrigerator’s temperature, the fermentation time various. It took about 3 weeks for mine to be ready to eat.

 

The nice spicy red color looks very appetizing. 🙂 You will see my radish kimchi in my future recipes, so you will learn how to enjoy this Korean radish kimchi in different ways too. Thanks for watching.