Kimchi, a staple in Korean cuisine, made vegan. This salted and fermented vegetable dish can be eaten with rice or used in a variety of Korean recipes.
There are many different kinds of kimchi, but this is the most common. It’s mostly Napa cabbage, with white radish, carrots and green onions. If you want to get into Korean cooking, you’ll need a stock of kimchi in your fridge.
FAQ
Is traditional kimchi vegan?
Depending on the manufacturer, store-bought kimchi may contain fish sauce or pastes. Many recipes also include these ingredients, probably because of the umami flavour they provide. It’s really easy to make delicious vegan kimchi though!
Can I use regular chili flakes?
No, you need to use Korean chili flakes, gochugaru, to make kimchi. Regular chili flakes will not give you the same flavour or colour.
Notes 🗒
- Keeping the kimchi at room temperature for the first 24 hours helps speed up the fermentation process. By the end of it, you should see bubbles in the liquid. It will continue to ferment in the fridge, becoming more sour.
- Use your hands to rub the paste into the vegetables instead of a spatula. I’d recommend wearing gloves to prevent any spicy burns!
- You can also keep it in the fridge immediately. It will take 2 weeks to ferment.
- I used vegetable stock to make the porridge because we’re not adding fish sauce to the kimchi. Kombu dashi would be good too, it’s essentially water infused with dried seaweed, which would give this a depth of flavour. You can also use water, but it won’t be as flavourful.
Use this vegan kimchi in my Kimchi Noodle Soup recipe! More Korean recipes coming soon 🙂
If you made this recipe, do leave a comment and rating below because I love hearing your feedback. Make sure to tag me on Instagram @eatwkriss so that I can see your recreations!
Vegan Kimchi
Ingredients
- 1 kg Napa cabbage
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup salt
Kimchi paste
- 1 cup Korean vegetable stock
- 2 tbsp glutinous rice flour
- 1 tbsp sugar
- ½ yellow onion
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1 inch ginger
- 1 tbsp miso paste
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 cup gochugaru (Korean chili flakes)
Other vegetables
- 180 g white radish julienne
- 65 g carrot julienne
- 3 scallions cut into 2" sticks
Instructions
- Cut cabbage lengthwise into quarters. Remove the hard core and cut the cabbage into bite-sized pieces.
- In a large bowl, combine cabbage, water and salt. Toss to combine and set aside. Repeat the mixing every 30 minutes, 3-4 times.
Make the paste
- In a pan/pot, combine vegetable stock and glutinous rice flour. Cook on medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Once you get a paste, add in sugar and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.
- In a food processor, combine porridge, onion, garlic, ginger, miso paste and soy sauce. Blend well. Transfer to a medium bowl and mix in gochugaru.
Mixing everything together
- Wash the salted cabbage in water and drain. Repeat this 3-4 times to get rid of the excess salt, otherwise the kimchi will be too salty.
- In a large bowl, combine cabbage, radish, carrot and green onions. Add in the chili paste and, using gloves, mix everything together. Make sure every vegetable is well coated in the paste.
- Transfer to a clean, air-tight plastic or glass container, making sure to pack it down tightly. Fill it up ¾ of the way, as the kimchi will expand as it ferments.
- Keep at room temperature for 24 hours before transferring to the fridge OR let ferment slowly in the fridge for 2 weeks.
Notes
- Keeping the kimchi at room temperature for the first 24 hours helps speed up the fermentation process. By the end of it, you should see bubbles in the liquid. It will continue to ferment in the fridge, becoming more sour.
- You can also keep it in the fridge immediately. It will take 2 weeks to ferment.
Absolutely awesome 👏🏻 I had to substitute the white radish for a red radish but it still worked perfectly! Love this recipe and will definitely make again ❤️
Hi Kelsy, I’m so glad that substitution worked for you!! Thanks for making the recipe <3