The day that I made my beachu kimchi I made another type of kimchi as well: kkakdugi (깍두기) or radish kimchi. This kimchi is a lot easier and faster to make than its famous cousin so it is a great kimchi to make for beginners like myself.
Kimchi for Busy People
If you have seen my first kimchi recipe, the one for traditional baechu kimchi, you might think that kimchi making takes up entire days. So you might assume if you are a busy person that you simply cannot make your own kimchi. For the busy people with kimchi aspirations there is Kkakdugi (깍두기). While traditional kimchi requires a lot of preparation time, kkakdugi is really fast to make compared to that. There is no need to soak the radishes in salt and water for hours. You just need an hour or so to prepare the radish. So being busy is not an excuse for not making kimchi.
This box is filled with my handmade kkakdugi (깍두기)
Pay Attention to Your Gochugaru
When making kimchi, using the right Korean red chili flakes or gochugaru (고추가루) is essential. There are two types of coarse chili flakes and powder. For kimchi you absolutely have to use the coarse chili flakes. Using the powder form will give the kimchi a sand like texture that will be a little off-putting.
The powder gochugaru is used to make Korean red chili paste or gochujang (고추장).
Kakkdugi, the Art of Mu
These radish cubes are enjoying their time at the salt and sugar spa.
Kkakdugi (깍두기) is made using white radish. In Korea, unsurprisingly, they use Korean radish or mu (무). It is a close relative to the Japanese daikon radish, but somewhat sweeter. The Korean radish also looks more plump and rounder than its long Japanese brother. If you can find this type of radish in your local asian market than recommend you use it. However, if you like me you cannot find mu anywhere, you can substitute it with its Japanese brother, the daikon radish.
Things you need for kkakdugi – 깍두기
The day I made baechu kimchi I made another type of kimchi kkakdugi (깍두기), radish kimchi. This kimchi is a lot faster to make than its famous cousin.
Ingredients
- 60 ml water
- 1 Large onion, grated
- 1 Pear, sweet variety, grated
- 3-4 tbsp Korean red chili flakes (Gochugaru)
- 2-3 tbsp Fish sauce
- 1 tbsp Rice flour, glutinous
- 1 tbsp ginger, grated
- 2 tbsp Sugar
- 2 tbsp Sea salt
- 2 Korean radish (or daikon radish)
- 5 Spring onion
Instructions
- Cut the radish into cubes. Do not make the cubes to small as they will shrink later on.
- Place the cubed radish into a mixing bowl and cover with the sugar and salt.
- Make sure the salt and sugar covers all radish cubes by mixing well by hand.
- Let it rest for at least 1 hour.
- After 1 hour waiting remove the accumulated radish juice and rinse the radish cubes clean with cold water and set aside.
- Add the water and rice flour to a bowl and heat up for around 1 minute on medium.
- Add the fish sauce, grated ginger, grated onion and grated pear to the rice paste and mix well.
- Add the Korean chili flakes to the paste. Taste while adding the chili flakes to make sure the spiciness level matches your taste.
- Cut the spring onions in chunks.
- Add the sliced spring onions to the cubed radish mixing bowl.
- Add the kimchi paste to the cubed radish mixing bowl.
- Mix the paste and the radish cubes well until everything is covered with the paste.
- Put the kkakdugi in a container.
- Keep the kkakdugi container at room temperature until it starts to ferment. The time you need to wait depends on the room temperature.
- When fermentation starts, place the kkakdugi container in the fridge. Wait around 4 days and your kkakdugi is ready to be devoured.
Notes
If you have leftover kimchi paste from my baechu kimchi recipe, just use this paste to make the kkakdugi.
Some belief if you cover the radish cubes with a spoon of gochugaru before adding the kimchi paste, the end result will be an even better taste.
