Plant-Based Korean Turnip Kimchi

Also known as "kkakdugi", or Korean radish kimchi, or cubed radish kimchi, or "mu" kimchi...whatever the case may be, here in the P52 kitchen, we simply call this spectacular!

This is my first attempt at making any kind of kimchi and, using my mama's recipe, it's surprisingly easy and turned out amazing.

Makes about 8 cups.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups Korean turnip, cubed

• 1 cup green cabbage, chopped

• 1/4 cup kosher salt

Kimchi paste:

• 3/4 cups water

• 1/2 tbsp all purpose flour

• 3 tbsp gochugaru

Kimchi seasonings:

• 1/2 cup garlic, minced

• 1/2 cup green onion, chopped

• 1/2 cup apple, minced (sugar substitute; you're so healthy!) 🤗

• Inch size knob ginger, peeled and minced

Directions:

1. Wash turnip and green cabbage. Cut turnip into cubes (I prefer half inch-ish cubes but cut them into pieces you like), chop green cabbage and add both to a large bowl

2. Salt generously - start with 1/4 cup and add more later if needed - and mix. Set aside for turnip and green cabbage to 'sweat' for about half an hour

3. Meanwhile, in a small pot, heat water, flour and gochugaru and mix for about five minutes to form a rather thick paste (see below for consistency). Turn off heat and leave on stovetop to cool

4. In a bowl, add garlic, green onion, apple and ginger

5. Once your turnip and green cabbage has 'sweat', pour out excess water but do not rinse. Taste a piece of turnip to ensure it's salty enough (should be pretty salty but not like salty sea water - that's too much. Different salts vary in their level of saltiness so taste test, and add more salt if needed)

6. Add all ingredients (garlic, green onion, apple, ginger, kimchi paste) to your large bowl of turnip and green cabbage and mix thoroughly

7. Add to a glass container and pop it in the fridge, well done!

Kimchi paste consistency will look like this...

Kimchi will last for weeks in the fridge and will change, intensifying over time. I enjoy this with almost anything but in particular, fried rice dishes or any noodle dish, and that includes Asian or Italian. You may think it's weird to eat kimchi with spaghetti but hey, I'm Korean so it's in my genetic makeup.

Crunchy and spicy make such great accompaniments to so many dishes.

Enjoy!