Dongchimi (Winter Radish Water Kimchi)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •4 to 5 liter onggi or glass fermentation jar with lid
• •Digital kitchen scale
• •Large nonreactive bowl
• •Cheesecloth or large tea filter for aromatics
• •Fermentation weight or clean zip-top bag filled with 2 percent salt water
• •Tray for catching overflow

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the vessel

   Wash a 4 to 5 liter onggi or glass jar with hot soapy water, rinse it well, and let it air dry. Fermentation does not ask for hospital sterility, but it does ask for a clean vessel with no soap smell left behind. Avoid reactive metal containers; salt and acid will punish them.

2. 2

   Trim the radishes

   Choose small Korean winter radishes that feel heavy for their size, with firm green shoulders and no soft spots. Scrub them under running water and do not peel them. Trim root hairs and cut the greens down to 2 cm. The skin helps the radish stay crisp, and those short stems give the brine a quiet radish flavor without turning grassy.

   If you only have large Korean radish, cut it into pieces about 6 cm long. It will ferment faster and lose the pleasure of a whole radish, but the brine can still be good. Large Japanese daikon is wetter and milder, so use it only when Korean mu is truly unavailable.
3. 3

   Salt the radishes

   Put the radishes in a wide nonreactive bowl and rub them all over with 45 g of the salt. Rest them at cool room temperature for 5 to 6 hours, turning them every hour so the salt reaches every side. They should look wet and glossy, and a knife tip should meet firm flesh, not a soft sponge. Do not rinse them after salting, because that throws away the measured salt.

4. 4

   Mix the brine

   Stir the remaining 54 g salt and the sugar into 2.5 liters filtered or boiled-and-cooled water until clear. Pour in any salty liquid released by the radishes. This gives a final salt level of about 2.2 percent against the radish and water together: enough to guide fermentation, mild enough that the finished broth can be drunk cold.

5. 5

   Bundle the aromatics

   Put the onion, garlic, and ginger in a piece of cheesecloth or a large tea filter and tie it closed. Do not mince them. Whole and crushed aromatics season the brine slowly; minced garlic clouds the broth and makes it rough before the radish has time to ferment.

6. 6

   Pack the jar

   Place the salted radishes in the jar, then tuck in the pear wedges, scallions, mustard greens or radish stems if using, green chilies, red chilies if using, and the aromatic pouch. Pour the brine over everything. The vegetables must sit at least 2.5 cm below the brine, with about 5 cm headspace at the top of the jar. Use a fermentation weight, or a clean zip-top bag filled with 2 percent salt water, to keep everything submerged.

   If you need more brine to cover, mix 1 liter water with 22 g salt. Do not top up with plain water, or the surface becomes the weakest part of the jar.
7. 7

   Start fermentation

   Cover the jar loosely, or use an airlock lid, and set it on a tray at 18 to 20 C for 24 to 48 hours, away from direct sun. Taste with a clean spoon after the first day. The brine should begin to feel lightly alive, with tiny bubbles and a clean salty edge. If your kitchen is warm, move it to the refrigerator after 24 hours. If it is cool, give it the second day.

8. 8

   Age it cold

   Move the jar to the refrigerator or a cold storage place at 0 to 4 C. Let it mature 7 to 14 days before serving; small radishes are usually ready around day 7, and whole larger ones need closer to 14. Pull out the garlic, ginger, and onion pouch after 5 to 7 days in the cold so the broth stays clean. The brine will turn faintly cloudy and lightly sour, and the radish should cut with a crisp snap under the knife.

9. 9

   Serve it cold

   Slice the radishes into half-moons or thick wedges and ladle the cold brine over them. Serve dongchimi beside rice, grilled meat, dumplings, or rich stews, where its clean sourness clears the mouth. If a serving tastes too salty, dilute only that bowl with 1 or 2 tablespoons cold water. Do not correct the whole jar with vinegar; then you have dressing, not fermentation.

Chef Tips

• •Use a scale for the salt. Tablespoons change from one salt brand to another, and dongchimi is mostly brine, so guessing shows. 손맛 is real; I measure it anyway.
• •Small winter mu is the right radish: dense, sweet, and peppery. If the radishes are pithy, soft, or hot-weather watery, cook something else. The Korean table is wide enough that the month will give you another dish.
• •Keep garlic and ginger contained in a pouch. This is not because they are unwelcome, but because dongchimi broth should be clean enough to drink. Too much exposed garlic turns the jar sharp and cloudy.
• •A glass jar is a safe modern vessel. Onggi breathes beautifully, but a clean glass jar lets you see whether everything is submerged. The corner you may cut is the vessel, not the salt ratio or the submersion.
• •White film on the surface usually means yeast found air. If the vegetables were submerged and the smell is clean, skim it, wipe the rim, and keep the jar colder. If you see fuzzy mold, pink slime, or smell rot, discard the batch without negotiation.
• •For naengmyeon, strain 2 cups of mature brine into a clean container before the table has dipped chopsticks into the jar. Chill it hard, then mix with cold beef broth or use it straight when it tastes balanced.

Advance Preparation

• •Dongchimi is a make-ahead dish by nature. It is drinkable after about 7 days in the cold, better after 10 to 14 days, and usually keeps 4 to 6 weeks refrigerated if everything stays submerged and clean utensils are used.
• •Do not salt the radishes overnight at room temperature. If your schedule breaks, refrigerate them after 6 hours of salting and continue within 12 hours, or they will season unevenly and soften.
• •For serving, chill the bowl and brine well. Slice only the radish you plan to eat that day, then return the rest to the jar under brine.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 385g)