Ingredients
4.5 oz Korean pepper powder
3.5 lbs napa cabbage
3.5 oz white salt
7 oz white radish (daikon)
7 oz asian (or korean) pears
3.5 oz carrots
3.5 oz chives
3.5 oz green onion
Sauce 1
3.5 oz apple
3.5 oz onion
1.7 garlic
1 thumb size ginger
1 tsp pink salt
1.7 oz each shiitake mushrooms and kelp (use cooked part from kombu broth) - 3.5 oz for both
Sauce 2
1 tbsp glutinous rice flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup Kombu broth (see how to make Kombu broth)
1 tsp pink salt
Steps
Prepare
Use a knife to cut a bit of the head of the napa cabbage, then use your hands to split it in half. Continue to do so with the rest. You can split it to 4
Use white salt to rub each layer of cabbage leaves. Note that thicker parts will require more salt (e.g. stem versus leaves).
Let the napa cabbage rest for 2 hours. This first stage need you to check napa cabbage every 30 minutes or 1 hour and turn them upside down. Because after a while, the cabbage will release water and the salt will drop to the bottom of the basket, turning the cabbage will help the upper part to be better absorbed, while the lower part is not too salty. That makes napa cabbage equally absorbed salt. When flipping, be gently like handling a baby.
After 2 hours, the napa cabbage begins to soften. You can try it by testing: tear and eat a bit of the napa cabbage stem, if it's taste likely salty then it's good. If you don't want to taste it to make sure, then I think 2 hours is good to go. Bring them all to wash off all the salt and dirt if any (about 2-3 times water). Wash gently like a baby bath. Then let them drain water completely.
Sliced green onions and garlic chives about 2 in long
White radish, carrot, pear julienne
White radish, carrots, pears, green onion and garlic chives place in a large bowl that you can easily mix and marinate the cabbage later
Processing
Add 1 cup kombu broth dissolved with 1 tbsp glutinous rice flour. Stir in the glutinous rice flour mixture on medium heat until it slightly boil and forms small bubbles (takes about 7-10 minutes). Turn off heat then add 1 tbsp of sugar and 1 tsp of salt and stir to dissolve. Then let it cool completely
In a blender, add following ingredients: 50g garlic, 10g ginger, 100g onion, 100g apple (peeled), 5g pink salt, 50g mushrooms + 50g seaweed (from kombu broth). Blend until smooth. Pour into a same above large bowl
Mix all the prepared vegetables together with sauce 1, sauce 2, and 4.5 oz Korean pepper powder. This is kimchi sauce, use your hands to rub this sauce evenly into each cabbage leaf, place also green onions, garlic chives, etc (in the sauce) between the leaves. Pay attention to the stem part (since this part is thicker, it needs more sauce to absorb than the leaf).
When each part of the napa cabbage has been evenly coated with the sauce, fold it gently and place it in the sanitized pot (use clay, ceramic or glass, do not use stainless steel or any metal pot). Repeat and until the napa cabbage is finished.
Close the lid and let it to stay at room temperature to ferment
***Please check out your kimchi daily. About the second day it is edible. But it depends on the outside temperature too, so be sure to check daily to see if the acidity and fermentation is right for you. Then you can put kim chi in fridge to slow down the fermentation process (the longer it is, the more sour)
Note
Korean chili powder is not as spicy as Vietnamese or Thai chili powder, mainly helps to create flavor and give the dish a nice red color.
Since vegetarian kimchi does not use salted shrimp, the use of seaweed and shiitake mushrooms as well as kombu broth is very important for this recipe.