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
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Yangpa-jangajji (Soy-Pickled Onion)
Created by
Quartered onions cured in soy, vinegar, and sugar, the modern home jangajji that waits in the refrigerator and rescues any table heavy with grilled meat.
Sauces & Condiments
Korean
Make Ahead
Budget Friendly
15 min
Active Time
5 min cook•24 hr 20 min total
Yield1 quart jar, about 8 small banchan servings
Spring onions are when I like this best, the small firm ones with tight layers and no green sprout pushing from the top. Cook the month you're standing in. In late spring and early summer, make yangpa-jangajji. In winter, when the onions are harsh and tired, make mu-jangajji (soy-pickled radish) instead.
This is not old grandeur. It is refrigerator food, budget food, the little bowl you set beside samgyeopsal, galbi, or a plain fried egg over rice. The onion gives sweetness, the vinegar gives the cut, and the soy sauce gives salt without making the whole thing heavy. The trick is the hot brine. Pour it over the onions once, while boiling, and they relax just enough but keep their bite. Boil the onions in the pot and you've made something else.
My teacher Master Seong-nyeo measured brine by ratios before she trusted anyone's hand. Notebook 31 says 1 part soy sauce, 1 part vinegar, 1 part water, and just under 1 part sugar for onions, because onions bring their own sweetness. 손맛 is real. I still measure it anyway, so it can be handed on. Tonight this asks very little of you: cut evenly, pack cleanly, pour hot, cool, and wait one day before judging it.
Jangajji is the Korean family of preserved vegetables cured in jang, the fermented sauces and pastes that held a household pantry together before refrigeration. Yangpa-jangajji is a newer member of that family because onions, called yangpa or western scallions, became common in Korea only in the twentieth century. Its place at the modern table grew with home refrigeration and tabletop grilling, where a sharp soy-vinegar pickle cuts through fatty meat.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
small yellow or white onions
Quantity
600g
peeled and quartered through the root
green chili (optional)
Quantity
1
sliced on the diagonal
red chili (optional)
Quantity
1
sliced on the diagonal
soy sauce
Quantity
1 cup
rice vinegar
Quantity
1 cup
water
Quantity
1 cup
sugar
Quantity
3/4 cup
maesil-cheong (Korean green plum syrup) (optional)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| small yellow or white onionspeeled and quartered through the root | 600g |
| green chili (optional)sliced on the diagonal | 1 |
| red chili (optional)sliced on the diagonal | 1 |
| soy sauce | 1 cup |
| rice vinegar | 1 cup |
| water | 1 cup |
| sugar | 3/4 cup |
| maesil-cheong (Korean green plum syrup) (optional) | 2 tablespoons |
Equipment Needed
- •1 quart heatproof glass jar or lidded glass container
- •Small saucepan
- •Clean spoon or small pickle weight
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the jar
Wash a 1 quart glass jar and lid with hot soapy water, rinse well, and let them dry. This is a refrigerator pickle, not shelf-stable canning, but a clean jar still matters because the onions will sit in brine for weeks.
- 2
Cut the onions
Peel the onions and quarter them through the root so the layers stay partly attached. If the onions are large, cut each half into 3 wedges instead of 2. Even pieces cure at the same speed; careless cutting gives you sharp raw centers and soft outer pieces in the same jar.
- 3
Pack the jar
Pack the onion wedges into the jar with the sliced chilies, if using. Do not crush them. Leave about 1 inch of space at the top so the hot brine can cover everything without spilling.
- 4
Boil the brine
Combine the soy sauce, rice vinegar, water, sugar, and maesil-cheong, if using, in a small saucepan. Bring to a full boil over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. The boil is short, just 30 seconds once it bubbles hard. You are dissolving and unifying the brine, not cooking it down.
- 5
Pour it hot
Pour the boiling brine directly over the onions until they are fully covered. Press the onions down gently with a clean spoon so trapped air rises. This hot pour is the whole technique: it takes away the raw bite while leaving the onion crisp.
- 6
Cool and chill
Let the jar stand uncovered until it is no longer hot, about 45 minutes, then seal and refrigerate. If a few onion tips float above the brine, turn the jar once after 2 hours or weigh them down with a clean small dish that fits inside the mouth.
- 7
Serve after resting
Start tasting after 24 hours. The onions should be crisp, sweet-sour, and soy-salty all the way through the outer layers, with a little raw snap left in the center. Serve cold in a small banchan dish, spooning over just enough brine to shine at the bottom.
Chef Tips
- •Use small, firm onions with tight skins. Sprouted onions are sharper and softer, and jangajji will not fix that. My teacher would have sent them back without a word.
- •The safe shortcut is the jar. A glass storage container works as well as a jar if the onions stay submerged. The corner you cannot cut is the hot brine; lukewarm brine leaves the onion too raw and uneven.
- •If your soy sauce is very salty, use 3/4 cup soy sauce and 1 1/4 cups water the first time. Write down the brand and the amount. Soy sauce changes more than people admit.
- •Keep this refrigerated and use clean chopsticks every time. It is best from day 2 through week 3, and still good for about 4 weeks if the onions stay covered.
Advance Preparation
- •Make yangpa-jangajji at least 1 day ahead. The onions are sharper on day 1, balanced by day 2, and mellow by day 4.
- •The brine can be boiled a second time after the onions are eaten, cooled, and used for one more batch within a week. After that, it thins and loses its clean edge.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 75g)
Calories
90 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
1350 mg
Total Carbohydrates
19 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
16 g
Protein
2 g
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