Basic Napa Cabbage Kimchi

Kimchi is nothing but fermented napa cabbage with spices. When you get it ready made it has very peculiar smell of fish sauce, which as a vegetarian I just can not stand it. So I tried to make it at home only so I can enjoy it whenever I want to and above all it's fermented food so he also can have it, that's the reason I didn't make it very spicy so my husband can enjoy it. If you can find it Korean red chili powder then use it otherwise regular Kashmiri chili powder is fine. If you are using fish sauce by all means use it and less salt than. And it want to add radish that also goes very well in this.

Ingredients 

1 medium head of Napa cabbage
1/4 cup salt
1 tbsp grated garlic
1 tbsp. grated ginger
1 to 5 tbsp. Korean red pepper flakes or kashmiri red chili powder
If you are using radish or daikon, peeled and chopped in medium cubes

Method:

Cut the cabbage in half then again half , remove the cores and cut it in 2 inch wide strips.Put the cabbage and salt in a large bowl, mix it with your hands so cabbage get little softer. Add water to cover the cabbage and put some plate on top and weigh it down with heavy stuff like some kind of jar or can or even water filled container.

Leave this way overnight. After that rinse and drain the cabbage and wash it under cold water for 2-3 times so all the salt goes away.Combine garlic , ginger, red chil powder according to your taste and mix it. Gently squeeze any water from the cabbage and add it in that spice mixture.  Mix it nicely with your hands if you can , otherwise use spoon because it's spicy and it will smell and burn too if you are not careful.Leave it in that container for one day and then put it in jar. 

Keep it outside till it becomes fermented totally, you can check for it by pressing down the vegetables with a spoon so all the brine will stay down. When its ripe enough , then put it in fridge. I started using it next day because I couldn't  wait but if you can give at least 3-4 days to ferment. You can have it as it is or with some burger or sandwich as a condiments.  Adopted from here.

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