Sue Yoo’s Healthier Vegan Kosher Kimchi Recipe • Jewish Food Hero (2024)

Ingredients

Scale

• 3 kg Chinese cabbage – thin is better
• 1 cups of kosher salt
• 1.5 tablespoons vegan fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons noni fruit juice / concentrated organic apple juice
• 1 pear – grate, squeeze and strain to yield ½ cup of pear juice
• 3 fresh garlic bulbs, peeled and chopped to yield 6 tablespoons
• 1 tsp fresh grated ginger
• 1–1.5 cups coarse ground chili powder (depending on how “spicy” you like your kimchi)
• 200–300g green onion – halved widthways
• 1 tablespoon ground sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon whole roasted sesame seeds

1. First, prepare cabbage
2. Remove one leaf of cabbage a a time (like removing a rose petal)
3. Chop cabbage one leaf at a time: cut it lengthwise vertically into big, long slices (do not chop horizontally, you’ll regret it).
4. Wash once
5. Pour ⅕ cup of good salt into a 1 cup measuring cup
6. Spread one layer of cabbage into big metal prep bowl
7. Sprinkle some salt
8. Add another layer of cabbage
9. Sprinkle some more salt
10. Repeat until all the cabbage is layered into prep bowl and 1 cup of salt is all used up.
11. Prepare hot salt water solution by dissolving ½ cup salt in 1 cup hot water.
12. Now add 1 cup cold water to salty solution
13. Pour the 2 cups of salty solution over cabbage until it is submerged.
14. After 1 hour: rotate the cabbage so that the bottom layer goes to the top and the top layer becomes the bottom layer
15. Allow to rest for one more hour
16. Drain the cabbage
17. Now gently wash the cabbage 2 or 3 times (making sure not to mush it)
18. Place washed cabbage in a large colander over the sink or an empty bowl and allow it to for 3 hours
19. While the cabbage is sweating, make the rice paste
20. Place 4 tablespoons of rice flour into soup pot
21. Add 2 cups clean water
22. Use a whisk and mix until smooth (i.e. no rice flour lumps are present)
23. Put pot on the stove and bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking the whole time
24. Cook until it becomes a rice paste (i.e. looks a bit like glue)
25. Take off heat and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes
26. While the rice paste is cooling, prepare pear juice
27. Peel the pear and then grate it
28. Strain it over a small colander and set the ½ cup of pear juice into a prep bowl
29. Place rice paste into large mixing bowl
30. Add two cups of chili powder
31. Mix chili and rice paste together using rubber spatula until completely smooth
32. Add pear juice
33. Add 2 tablespoons of noni juice (or organic apple juice concentrate)
34. Add 1.5 tablespoons vegan fish sauce
35. Add 6 tablespoons ground garlic (you can add less if you prefer less garlicky)
36. Add 1 teaspoon grated ginger
37. Mix to blend well – now you have your kimchi paste
38. Put gloves on
39. Add cabbage in batches and mix with the kimchi paste
40. When all the cabbage is covered with kimchi paste
41. Add green onion and fold together gently
42. Season with roasted sesame seeds and ground sesame seeds
43. Put in square or rectangular glass jar and press down so it is lightly packed so there is less air in the jar
44. You may need put a weight onto the cabbage to ensure that is it submerged in the liquid while it ferments
45. Leave outside to ferment for 6-18 hours (less time if you live in a warmer climate)
46. Place in a fridge

• Tools:
• Kitchen scale
• Measuring cups
• Tablespoon measure
• Large Colander
• Large metal kitchen prep bowl
• Whisk
• Small glass prep bowl
• Cutting board
• Good knife
• Rubber spatula
• Small strainer
• Sesame seed grinder
• Grater
• Plastic cooking gloves
• Large glass jar with lid