So, yesterday I started to make a new batch Kimchi. The Chinese cabbage now soaked really nice and got soft, so it’s time to add the remaining ingredients to it.

Basically what needs to be done on day 2 is to chop onions, carrots, garlic and the scallions and mix together with the Korean chili flakes under the Chinese cabbage. Nothing challenging from a crafting perspective.

We start with our nice Chinese cabbage from the day before

The Chinese cabbage should now be soft and we put that in a bigger bowl. Because we will deal with lots of garlic and chili flakes I recommend something easily washable like a metal or glass bowl.

Cut the remaining ingredients

There could be more carrots but that’s up to the individual taste. Garlic and the chili flakes are essential, but it’s up to you to go all crazy here 😉

It’s normal that the Kimchi develops a very strong acid-garlic in the next days. 5 cloves of garlic are just fine, I used to make Kimchi also with a lot more - The end product is good, but it smells really really really horribly during the fermentation period. Kimchi at that point got banned from our kitchen (for understandable reasons - no one wants to eat morning cereals while smelling garlic)
A friend of mine (half Korean) told me, that is totally fine and there is a reason why Korean people bury it in the ground until it’s ready.

I tend to agree.

The lazy chef uses a kitchen blender. The scallions I always cut by hand though

Then mix all the ingredients very well. Don’t rinse any water, we are going to need that - the fermentation undergoes anaerobically, so make sure the final Kimchi is underwater.

That’s how it looks like on day 2. This will be our nice Kimchi.

I’m putting my Kimchi in a sealable glass jar and put it in the basement/garage/cold place. Careful: There will be a lot of gas forming, you NEED to regularly release the pressure! If you have the chance of storing it in your basement without sealing it, that’s the best. Otherwise release the pressure at least once, better twice per day to prevent unfortunate Claymore-style “accidents” from happening. I’m assuming common sense here.

Nicely finished Kimchi - This beauty is now going to ferment for the next week