My frugal wife

 Let's make Kkadugi (Cubed Radish Kimchi), Kimchi for beginners

Korea is home to a variety of kimchi types. Radish kimchi is easier and faster to make than traditional cabbage kimchi. It pairs nicely with noodle meals like ramen or black bean noodles (Jjajangmyeon).  

If cabbage kimchi cooking level is 10, kkadugi is 3. 

<Ingredient>

One radish (2-2.5 lb) if you can buy Korean radish, it is better. But you have to order it from Korean supermarket. So, I used daikon which you can easily find at the Meijer supermarkets. 

Korean radish is more round, harder and juicier

Daikon (Japanese radish) is longer, softer and less juicy

I used a daikon since it is easy to find. 

1 tbsp coarse sea salt 

1 tbsp sweetener or sugar

Kimchi paste:

1 & 1/2 Tbsp red pepper (Korean chili) fine powder (gochugaru)

2 tbsp fish sauce (or soy sauce & fine salt for vegan)

1/2 onion

1/2 apple

1 Tbsp of cooked rice (or you can use flour porridge*). Important thing is not to use hot rice or flour porridge. Before mix it, cool them down. 

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tsp minced ginger

2 Tbsp of Sprite or Mountain dew or 1–2 tsp sugar

2-3 stalks of green onion

*flour porridge: Very simple. Put 1 tbsp of flour into one cup of boiling water. Mix it gently not to have flour coarse. Cool down before use. 

<How to make>

1. Wash daikon and cut them into cubes.

2. Mix them with 1 tbsp coarse sea salt and 1 tbsp sweetener or sugar (I used sweetener). 

3. Leave it for 30 min - 1hr. Water will be drawn. Dump the water. Don't rinse radish.

 

4. Mix the radish with fine chili powder (guchugaru)

<Making kimchi paste>

While waiting for radish are preserved with salt, let's make kimchi paste. 

1. Slice 1/2 onion and slice 1/2 apple, too. 

I peeled and removed seeds from apple. 

2. Into a blender, put 1 Tbsp of cooked rice, 1 tbsp minced garlic, 1 tsp minced ginger and above sliced onion and apple with 2 Tbsp of Sprite or Mountain dew. If you don't want to use Sprite or Mountain dew, please put 2 tbsp fish sauce with 1–2 tsp sugar (or sweetener). 

This is the fish sauce I used. You can use any brand that you can find from a supermarket. 

4. Mix everything together: Radish, blended kimchi paste, cut green onion. If you didn't put fish sauce when you grind kimchi paste, you can add now. 

Wear gloves to mix them. 

5. Now you have delicious kkadugi. Leave them in a room temperature at least one day or two. 1-2 days old kkadugi is crunchy and mildly sweet. You can leave longer if you want more deeper, tangy taste. But it is recommend to ferment it while keeping it into the refrigerator once it's passed 1-2 days.