Today, I will introduce a winter kimchi that Koreans enjoy a lot. It is the radish water kimchi called Dongchimi. I think that this is one of the easiest types of kimchi that you can make. Simply cut up the ingredients and then mix them with salt and water. You don’t even need fish sauce or hot pepper powder, so it can be a perfect kimchi recipe for vegetarians or people who cannot eat spicy food. π Please try it this winter. Then, let’s get started.
Yield: 1 Gallon
Video Instructions
Short Korean Lesson
- Mul (λ¬Ό) = Water
- Bul (λΆ) = Fire
Main Ingredients
- 2 Medium-sized Korean Radishes (About 4 lb)
- 10 Cups Water
- 6 Tbsp Sea Salt (About β Generous Cup)
- 1 Asian Pear
- 1 Onion
- 20 Garlic Cloves
- 6 Green Onions
- β Cup Ginger
- β Cup Sugar
- 2 Red Hot Peppers
- 2 Green Hot Peppers
Directions
Obtain about 2 medium-sized Korean Radishes, or about 4 pounds.
Peel the radish and remove any bad parts.
Cut the radish into sticks 2 inches in length and half an inch in thickness.
Place the radishes in a bowl and sprinkle 6 Tbsp of salt on top (about β generous cup). I recommend using sea salt. Mix the salt with the radish, and then set it aside for about 35 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the other vegetables. Cut 1 Asian pear and 1 onion into quarters. Prepare 20 peeled garlic cloves. Wash 2 red hot peppers and 2 green hot peppers. These peppers impart good flavor to the kimchi, but they do not make the kimchi spicy at all. However, if you are afraid to use them, you can skip them. Chop 6 green onions into 2 inch lengths. Slice β cup of ginger into ΒΌ inch slices.
After 35 minutes, drain the salted water from the radish. You will get about 1 cup of liquid from it. Discard the salt water.
In a big bowl, add the salted radish and the vegetables you prepared.
Pour 10 cups of water in the bowl.
Add ΒΌ cup of sugar and mix everything together.
Leave it at room temperature for a day and then place it in the refrigerator. It will take about 15-20 days to properly ferment. After it has finished fermenting, the radish will not have the bitter flavor anymore like it did when it was raw, and the kimchi broth will have a slightly sour and salty flavor combined with all of the other flavors from the onion, green onion, garlic, ginger, pear, and peppers.
In the cold winter, this cool water kimchi tastes awesome with hot steamed sweet potatoes or baked chestnuts. You can also use this kimchi broth for cold noodles. When you taste the broth right after making it, you might think it is way too salty. But, do not worry and please, leave it that way. Once it is fermented, it gets the right flavor. If the broth is not salty enough in the beginning, the radish will not taste good when it’s fermented, and it may spoil. Once it is ready to eat, if the broth is still too salty for your tastes, you can mix the broth with some cool drinking water and adjust the saltiness to your tastes. Anyway, oh my! The kimchi tastes great once it has fermented. Enjoy~ π
Hi Aeri! OMG! I have been waiting for this recipe! My husband loves water kimchi and I have tried to make it but it never comes out right. You can bet I will try this one! Mahalo and happy holidays
hi csyama,
Haha… Now your husband will be happy with your water kimchi. π Try it..and let me know the result. Thanks Happy holidays too. π
wow Aeri! i recently learn this from my mom and grandmother. we were doing kim jang and she made this also~ how did u learn all this? amazing!!!! Bryson will have very happy stomach because you cook every korean dish and his grandma can make him american dish + cookies. hehe π
hi Angie,
lol.. I learned some from experience… I’m still learning though ^^ hehe.. for cooking.. as a Korean.. I know what the food should taste like.. that’s big help to get good recipes. π Thanks for your compliment. So far bryson loves mommy’s food..hehe I’m sure that he will love his grandma’s American food also. π
HaHaHa, You give us this recipe that I like it as it’s not spicy. You look very busy recently, is it because it near to Christmas’ time. I think you and your family should have a happy Chritmas’ time this year!!!
hi stephaniebobo,
Yes, I always feel busy… especially after I had my son.. ^^ happy screaming.. hehe Have a great holiday.. thanks
Hi Aeri, I love dongchimi and all mul kimchis, thanks for providing another recipe for it! I adore trying out all of the variations. I’ll make some to try whne we return home from the holidays, it will be such a treat!
hi Katharine in Brussels,
Yep.. try it.. you will love it. Don’t forget to take some pictures for us.. hehe.. Merry Christmas. π
So happy you posted this! One of my favorites, but I never knew how to make it and the ones made by the Asian market I shop at put lemons inside theirs, which I don’t like. So excited to try.
hi Sandy,
I hope you like my recipe.. ^^ thanks
hi aeri!!
im just finished this recipe lol:D it turned out that i poured one or two more quart of water in it because the amount was too big. is that okay??
THANKSS!!
hi tiffany,
) but just try a little to see if you poured water too much. It should be salty enough.. feel slightly salty than your taste will be right. So if it’s not salty enough.. yes you poured more water… then add a little more salt until you feel like.. it is a little saltier than your taste..once it’s fermented.. the saltiness will be just right. if your broth is too salty for you.. add a little more water.. that’s how you fix it. thanks.. when you eat your kimchi later.. please let me know how it turned out.. enjoy..^^
No prbolems tiffany… just taste your kimchi broth a little… (since it’s not fermented yet..it will just taste like salt water..which is not good…
Hi Aeri,
I made this recipe about 1 week ago. At first, I thought it was too salty, and put in a little more water. But at one week’s fermentation, it is tangy and not too salty. Wish me luck–I’m hoping it will turn out right! Kamsamhamnida and have a Happy New Year. π
hi csyama,
Happy new year too. π thanks
hi Aeri,
I think I know why my Dongchimi was salty–I put the drained salted liquid in with the vegetables. lol! Not to worry, added more water. Keeping my fingers crossed!
hi csyama,
Oh.. that would be really salty.. -_-;; good thing you added more water.. hehe…
Hi Aeri,
The donchimi came out perfect! (According to my husband) The water has a really nice flavor. Do you use it for only nengmyun or can you use it for other noodles? Thank you for a great recipe!
hi csyama,
haha.. i’m happy to hear that.. good job !!!! π thumbs up for you. π somepeople just boil thin noodles..and eat with the water kimchi broth and sliced dongchimi … or you can eat the broth with boiled potato or sweet potato.. they are good match. π thanks
Hi Aeri,
Your website is awesome! I usually make so much napa kimchi & radish kimchi. How long is the shelf life of these dishes? I would like to can some to give away to friends & family and to store a little for ourselves. I’ve seen kimchi in jars in the grocery, but they are usually refrigerated. Even after canning, it should only need refrigeration after opening, no? Please enlighten me as I do not want to poison any of my beloved friends & family. Thanks. π π
hi Carla,
If the kimchi is fermented properly, it will not be poisoned.. so don’t worry.. we don’t do canning for kimchi.. just you ferment the kimchi in the refrigerator. This water kimchi will last over month… or 2 months.. when it becomes too sour.. maybe you don’t want to eat anymore… It is delicious..try it someday. π
Hey Aeri
I hv been a silent follower of yr blog for sometime but I only tried making this water radish kimchi recipe of yours recently. I followed yr instructions accordingly and I check the contents every few days. In the first 10days or so, everything seemed normal but since then, i noticed that the water has turned to be abit glue-y, not watery as it was in the beginning. It doesn’t taste or smell like it has turned bad but I am just concerned and wonder if everything is OK. It is almost 2 weeks since I made it. Can u pls advise? Tks for yr time. π
hi VB,
No worries… because it is because of fermenting process… mine was like that too.. the broth becomes a little glue-y…. but later.. the broth will be clear and like normal again.. not glue-y..and taste great.. so wait a little longer… ^^ please let me know how it turned out later… Enjoy !!!
Tks so much for yr reply. I feel so relieved now! I just tasted it after rinsing the radish in drinking water (coz I wasn’t sure then), it is tangy and crispy and very refreshing! Tks for the recipe π
Hi Aeri. The recipes here look great. I was wondering is it possible to leave out the sugar or substitute it with pureed pear or pear juice? Does the sugar aid in fermentation process or is it purely for flavor?
hi Julie,
yes.. sugar helps for the fermenting process and used for good flavor too.. pear has natural sugar too.. but just natural sugar has less sugar compare with the white sugar… so you have to consider that..and sugar helps to cover the bitter flavor from the radish too. ^^
LOVE THIS at my favorite Korean restaurant in town! I was so happy to try this out last month for the last time and it came out fabulous! Very yummy and sour like the restaurant does only better- I made it, I know the ingredients, and it is at my house!
I am making my second batch now. I left both batches out 2 days then added to fridge for 20 plus days.
THANK YOU for the wonderful recipe.
Bridget
Aeri: Thank you very much! I will try to make this water kimchi tomorrow, can’t wait to have a taste of it.
Can I use daikon instead since it’s not easy to get hold of korean radish?
Hi Ivy,
Daikon radish has slightly different texture and flavor from Korean radish. It’s a little sweeter and less crunch (more chewy texture) than Korean radish. You can try but the result can be slightly different.
Hi Aeri. This is probably a dumb question but do you keep the top opened or closed when it’s outside the fridge? I left mine open for a day and the liquid turned cloudy. Do you think it’s still okay to eat?
hi glacierkn,
Sorry for late reply. I usually cover the lid but not tightened.. so leave a little loose but.. cover the rid..so other dirt will not go into the jar.. yes.. it’s common the liquid will turn cloudy and will even get some bubble.. you can gently remove the top bubbles .. i hope you enjoyed your water kimchi. thanks
Hi Aeri, i made this with the purple radish they taste so good and turn the water a rose color π
Aeri unni, i haven’t try any kimchi before, so i don’t know if i like the taste, but i want to try this recipe. How can i adjust the amount of ingredients if i want to make a little portion? Is it okay if i cut the amount in half? thanks
hi MsAlief09,
Yes..cut the recipe in half.. hope you like it. thanks π
Yum! I love this dish. It’s one of the few Korean dishes I haven’t tried making yet. I came back to your site to see if you any recipes for dongchimi. And of course you did! I did not have any pears in house, so I substituted with what I did have, apple! No idea yet how that is going to work out. Wish me luck!
Hi Miss Kim @ behgopa,
I hope your water kimchi turned out great and you enjoyed it.. ^^ Thanks
Hi Aeri,
I am so excited to try this recipe out. I haven’t had this since my mother passed away. She passed before she could teach me my favorite dishes. It’s a little bit different than what I can remember from when I was a girl but I am sure that it is my memory that is different. Thank you so much for posting this, it really brings back some wonderful memories of my mother.
hi Cheri,
I’m sorry to hear that your mom passed away. Typical Korean moms just use instinct and hands for their cooking without measuring cups.. so it can be difficult to learn how to cook Korean food from it. I hope my blog can be helpful for you. I know it can not beat your mom’s delicious food..but I will be glad that my recipes can satisfy at least little bit of your good memories with your mom. Thanks.
Hi! I just tried your recipe this afternoon. After I completed all the steps in the recipe, I tasted my mixture and it is not salty, and so I added in more salt. Do I add in more sugar too since the salt to sugar ratio is a little off now? Thanks for the recipe!:)
hi Ruiting,
Sorry for late reply. Hope you could fix that well. Yes, you can always adjust the sweetness and saltiness to your taste.