Chef Jeong-sun
Albaechu-mul-kimchi (Baby Cabbage Water Kimchi)
Tender baby napa cabbage in a clear pear-garlic brine, lightly fermented until the broth turns clean and bright, the summer kimchi a beginner can make without a kimjang floor.
Culinary Explorer
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Jang-kimchi (Soy-Brined Water Kimchi)
Created by
An amber winter water kimchi for the holiday table, napa cabbage and radish softened in soy brine, pear, honey, ginger, and clean cold fermentation until it sits quietly beside tteokguk.
Sauces & Condiments
Korean
New Years
Holiday
45 min
Active Time
5 min cook•48 hr 50 min total
YieldAbout 2.4 liters, 10 side-dish servings
Master Seong-nyeo would not let jang-kimchi be called mul-kimchi with soy sauce poured in. She made me cut the radish again when the pieces were not the same thickness, because this kimchi is quiet and shows every careless cut. I stood there, 눈동냥, 귀동냥 (borrowing with the eyes and ears), learning that the dark brine is not there to dominate. It is there to carry salt, pear, ginger, and time.
Jang-kimchi belongs to the cold months and to a table with tteokguk (rice-cake soup) at the center. It is a water kimchi, but not the sharp white kind. Napa cabbage and radish soften first in ganjang (soy sauce), then sit under an amber brine sweetened with pear and a little honey. You are not making a fiery kimchi tonight. You are making something restrained, clean, and suited to a holiday table.
The work is knife work and patience. Cut the cabbage and radish evenly, keep the garlic and ginger contained so the brine stays clear, and ferment it only until it wakes up with a light tang. 손맛 (hand-taste) is real; I measure it anyway. Write down the soy sauce you used, because every bottle salts differently, and this dish can survive your kitchen and the next one after it.
Jang-kimchi appears in late Joseon cooking records such as Siuijeonseo (시의전서), the nineteenth-century cookbook that preserved many dishes from the place where household and court cooking touched. Unlike red cabbage kimchi, it uses ganjang (soy sauce) for salinity and color, and it remained associated with winter holiday tables because the dark, mild brine sits well beside tteokguk (rice-cake soup). It is fair to call this a court kimchi, but it should not be inflated beyond itself: cabbage, radish, soy sauce, pear, and careful hands.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
napa cabbage (baechu)
Quantity
700g
trimmed and cut into 2-inch squares
Korean radish (mu)
Quantity
400g
peeled and cut into 2 by 1 by 1/8-inch tiles
Korean soup soy sauce (guk-ganjang)
Quantity
3 tablespoons
for first seasoning
water
Quantity
5 cups
boiled 5 minutes and cooled completely
Korean soup soy sauce (guk-ganjang)
Quantity
1/2 cup
for brine
coarse sea salt
Quantity
1 tablespoon
Korean pear
Quantity
1
peeled, half grated and squeezed for juice, half thinly sliced
honey
Quantity
2 tablespoons
garlic
Quantity
4 cloves
thinly sliced
fresh ginger
Quantity
20g
thinly sliced
dried red chilies
Quantity
2
seeded and cut into thin rings
scallions
Quantity
3
cut into 2-inch lengths
minari (Korean water dropwort) or garlic chives (optional)
Quantity
40g
cut into 2-inch lengths
peeled fresh chestnuts (optional)
Quantity
4
thinly sliced
dried jujubes (daechu)
Quantity
4
pitted and sliced into rings
pine nuts (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
rinsed and picked over
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| napa cabbage (baechu)trimmed and cut into 2-inch squares | 700g |
| Korean radish (mu)peeled and cut into 2 by 1 by 1/8-inch tiles | 400g |
| Korean soup soy sauce (guk-ganjang)for first seasoning | 3 tablespoons |
| waterboiled 5 minutes and cooled completely | 5 cups |
| Korean soup soy sauce (guk-ganjang)for brine | 1/2 cup |
| coarse sea salt | 1 tablespoon |
| Korean pearpeeled, half grated and squeezed for juice, half thinly sliced | 1 |
| honey | 2 tablespoons |
| garlicthinly sliced | 4 cloves |
| fresh gingerthinly sliced | 20g |
| dried red chiliesseeded and cut into thin rings | 2 |
| scallionscut into 2-inch lengths | 3 |
| minari (Korean water dropwort) or garlic chives (optional)cut into 2-inch lengths | 40g |
| peeled fresh chestnuts (optional)thinly sliced | 4 |
| dried jujubes (daechu)pitted and sliced into rings | 4 |
| pine nuts (optional)rinsed and picked over | 1 tablespoon |
Equipment Needed
- •2.5 to 3-liter glass jar or small onggi
- •Fermentation weight or clean small bag filled with brine
- •Cheesecloth or tea filter for garlic and ginger
- •Wide mixing bowl
Instructions
- 1
Clean the jar
Wash a 2.5 to 3-liter glass jar or small onggi with hot soapy water, rinse well, and let it air-dry. Fermentation is not a place for laziness. A clean jar lets the soy brine sour gently instead of picking up stale flavors from the cupboard.
If you use a glass jar, make sure it has room at the top. Water kimchi expands as it ferments, and a packed jar will push brine out onto the counter. - 2
Cut the vegetables
Cut the cabbage into 2-inch squares and the radish into thin tiles, about 2 inches long, 1 inch wide, and 1/8 inch thick. This is the work the kimchi lives or dies by. Thick radish stays raw while the cabbage is ready; thin scraps go limp. Cut them evenly and the bowl looks cared for before anyone tastes it.
- 3
Season with soy
Put the cabbage and radish in a wide bowl and toss with 3 tablespoons guk-ganjang. Let them stand 30 minutes, turning once halfway through. Do not rinse them. That first soy seasoning pulls a little water from the vegetables and carries salt into the center, so the finished kimchi tastes seasoned through, not just stained brown on the outside.
- 4
Make the brine
Stir the cooled boiled water, 1/2 cup guk-ganjang, 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt, pear juice, and honey until the honey and salt dissolve completely. The brine should taste saltier than soup, gently sweet, and clean from the pear. This measured brine gives enough salinity for a light water kimchi while keeping the soy from taking over.
Do not use low-sodium soy sauce here. Salt is not only flavor; it keeps the vegetables crisp and gives the fermentation a proper path. - 5
Bundle aromatics
Tie the sliced garlic and ginger in a small piece of cheesecloth or put them in a tea filter. They should season the brine without floating everywhere and clouding it. Leave the red chili rings loose, because their color belongs in the jar.
- 6
Pack the jar
Put the soy-seasoned cabbage and radish into the jar with all the liquid from the bowl. Add the pear slices, red chili, scallions, minari or chives if using, chestnuts if using, and jujube rings. Pour the brine over everything and press the vegetables down with a fermentation weight or a small clean bag filled with extra brine. Leave at least 1 inch of headspace. Anything above the brine ferments badly, so keep it under.
- 7
Ferment lightly
Close the jar loosely, or use a fermentation lid, and leave it at 18 to 21 C for 24 to 36 hours. If your kitchen is warmer than 23 C, check it after 12 hours. Look for tiny bubbles at the edge and a light tang in the brine, not a hard sourness. Jang-kimchi should wake up, not shout.
- 8
Chill and serve
Move the jar to the refrigerator and chill at least 24 hours before serving. Serve cold in small bowls with enough amber brine to sip, scattering a few pine nuts on top if you use them. It belongs beside tteokguk, jeon, and rich holiday dishes because it clears the mouth without scolding the food around it.
Chef Tips
- •Use guk-ganjang or Joseon ganjang if you can. It is saltier, clearer, and more direct than regular all-purpose soy sauce. Regular soy sauce will work, but the brine will be darker and a little sweeter.
- •The pear is not decoration. Half of it seasons the brine and half of it floats in the jar, so you get sweetness in the liquid and a clean bite in the bowl. If you cannot find Korean pear, use another crisp Asian pear.
- •This is a safe place to modernize the vessel. A clean glass jar works in place of onggi. Do not shorten the knife work or weaken the salt, because then the vegetables soften unevenly and the fermentation loses its footing.
- •Some old formal versions soften the serving brine with a little clear beef broth. Do not ferment meat broth in the jar at room temperature. If you want that style, add 2 tablespoons cold clear beef broth to each serving bowl and eat that portion the same day.
Advance Preparation
- •For Seollal, make this 2 to 3 days before serving. It needs one day to ferment lightly and at least one more day in the refrigerator for the soy, pear, and ginger to settle into one brine.
- •Once chilled, keep the vegetables submerged and use a clean spoon every time. The kimchi is best from day 3 through day 10 and should be finished within 2 weeks.
- •Cut the cabbage and radish only on the day you assemble the jar. Pear juice browns quickly too, so grate and squeeze it when the brine is ready.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 240g)
Calories
80 calories
Total Fat
1 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
1 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
1750 mg
Total Carbohydrates
15 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
9 g
Protein
3 g
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