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Clean, crunchy cubes of Korean radish salted evenly, stained red with gochugaru, garlic, ginger, and salted shrimp, then fermented until the snap stays sharp and the broth turns lively.
Kkakdugi lives or dies by the knife. Cut the mu (Korean radish) into uneven cubes and one piece will be salty while another stays bland. Two centimeters. Not because I like numbers for their own sake, though I have been accused of worse, but because even cubes salt evenly and keep the clean snap that makes this kimchi worth making.
This is the kimchi that sits beside seolleongtang (ox bone soup), gomtang (beef soup), and any plain bowl of rice that needs waking up. It should be bold enough to cut through a white broth, but not so buried in garlic, sugar, and fish sauce that the radish disappears. Let it taste like itself. Good mu is sweet, dense, and a little peppery, especially in late autumn and winter, when the radishes feel heavy for their size.
My teacher Master Seong-nyeo made students salt radish in separate bowls until we could judge the bend and shine by sight. 눈동냥, 귀동냥, borrowing with the eyes and ears. Tonight you will do it with a scale, a knife, a bowl, and a clean jar. 손맛 is real. I still measure it anyway, so it can be handed on.
Kkakdugi is a relatively modern kimchi compared with Korea's older white and brined vegetable preserves, since red chili seasoning entered Korean kimchi only after peppers arrived from the Americas in the late Joseon period. The cubed radish kimchi became especially tied to soup houses, where its sharp crunch balances long-simmered white broths such as seolleongtang and gomtang. Regional versions vary in salinity and seafood seasoning, with coastal households often using more salted shrimp or fish sauce than inland homes.
Quantity
1.5 kg
peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
Quantity
2 tablespoons
Quantity
1 tablespoon
for salting
Quantity
1 tablespoon
Quantity
1/2 cup
Quantity
5 tablespoons
medium-coarse
Quantity
3 tablespoons
Quantity
2 tablespoons
finely chopped
Quantity
5 cloves
minced
Quantity
1 tablespoon
minced
Quantity
1 tablespoon
for seasoning
Quantity
4
cut into 3cm lengths
Quantity
1/2 small
grated
Quantity
1/4 cup
reserved, if needed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Korean radish (mu)peeled and cut into 2cm cubes | 1.5 kg |
| coarse sea salt | 2 tablespoons |
| sugarfor salting | 1 tablespoon |
| sweet rice flour | 1 tablespoon |
| water | 1/2 cup |
| gochugaru (Korean chili flakes)medium-coarse | 5 tablespoons |
| fish sauce | 3 tablespoons |
| salted shrimp (saeujeot)finely chopped | 2 tablespoons |
| garlicminced | 5 cloves |
| fresh gingerminced | 1 tablespoon |
| sugarfor seasoning | 1 tablespoon |
| scallionscut into 3cm lengths | 4 |
| oniongrated | 1/2 small |
| Korean radish salting liquid (optional)reserved, if needed | 1/4 cup |
Peel the mu and cut it into even 2cm cubes. This is not decoration. Radish salts from the outside in, and uneven pieces ferment unevenly. A proper cube gives you one clean bite: salty enough at the surface, sweet and crisp inside.
Put the radish in a large bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons coarse sea salt and 1 tablespoon sugar. Let it stand 35 to 45 minutes, turning once halfway through, until the cubes look glossy and have released liquid at the bottom of the bowl. Taste one corner. It should be seasoned but not harsh.
While the radish salts, whisk the sweet rice flour with 1/2 cup water in a small pot. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring, for 3 to 5 minutes until it turns glossy and lightly thickened. Cool it completely. The paste helps the seasoning cling to each cube instead of sliding to the bottom of the jar.
Drain the radish well, saving 1/4 cup of the salting liquid. Do not rinse unless you tasted a cube and found it painfully salty. Rinsing washes away the first seasoning you worked to put in. The cubes should feel slick and firm, not limp.
Return the drained radish to the bowl and toss it first with the gochugaru. Coat every cube until the red color is even. This order matters: chili meets the damp radish first and stains it cleanly, before wet seasonings dilute the color.
Add the cooled rice paste, fish sauce, chopped salted shrimp, garlic, ginger, grated onion, and 1 tablespoon sugar. Mix by hand, wearing gloves, until the seasoning clings in a thin red coat. Add the scallions last and fold gently so they do not bruise. If the mixture looks dry and sandy, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of the reserved radish liquid, just enough to loosen it.
Pack the kkakdugi into a clean 1.5 to 2 liter jar or kimchi container, pressing down firmly to remove air pockets. Leave at least 3cm headspace, because fermentation will push the brine up. Wipe the rim clean and close the lid.
Leave the container at cool room temperature, around 18 to 22 degrees C, for 18 to 24 hours. Open once over a sink to release pressure, then press the cubes back under their brine with a clean spoon. When it smells lightly sour and the brine is beginning to bubble at the edges, move it to the refrigerator.
Refrigerate at least 1 day before serving. It is good young, bright, and crunchy, and it deepens over the next week. Serve cold in a small banchan dish beside rice, seolleongtang, gomtang, or any mild soup that needs a clean radish bite.
1 serving (about 170g)
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