Chonggak Kimchi (총각김치)
Chonggak kimchi, also known as bachelor kimchi or ponytail radish kimchi, is made with whole altari radish and their greens brined and coated in a homemade gochugaru sauce built on a glutinous rice porridge base. Crunchy, spicy, funky, and deeply savory, it's one of the best kimchis to have in your fridge especially alongside rice, eggs, and sausage.
Ingredients
Radish and Brine
- 5 lb altari radish washed and peeled
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup coarse salt
Glutinous Rice Porridge
- 1/4 cup glutinous rice flour
- 2 cups water
Kimchi Sauce
- 1 cup gochugaru korean made preferred
- 6 tbsp garlic minced
- 1/2 onion grated/blended
- 1 inch knob of ginger grated about 1 tbsp
- 2 tbsp anchovy fish sauce adjust to taste
- 2 tbsp korean fish sauce adjust to taste
- 3 tbsp sugar adjust to taste
- 5 green onions cut into thirds
Instructions
BRINE THE RADISH
- Clean: Wash all your radish thoroughly. Peel the exterior of each radish until smooth. Use a small knife to clean around the area where the radish meets the leaves, there will be more dirt trapped there. Trim any dead leaves but leave the fresh greens on.
- Brine: In a large bowl add your radish and pour in the water and coarse salt. Toss everything together so the salt is evenly distributed. Let sit for 1 hour, toss again to redistribute, and sit for another 1 hour.
MAKE THE KIMCHI SAUCE
- Make the rice porridge: In a small saucepan whisk together glutinous rice flour and water over medium heat, stirring constantly until it thickens into a smooth paste. Transfer to a bowl and let cool completely before adding anything else.
- Build the sauce: Once the porridge is cool add gochugaru — start with 1 cup and adjust based on the color and taste. Then add minced garlic, grated onion, grated ginger, anchovy fish sauce, Korean fish sauce, and sugar. Add the green onion pieces and mix everything together well. Taste and adjust — more sugar if you want it slightly sweeter, more fish sauce if you want more depth, more gochugaru if you want more heat and color.
RINSE AND COMBINE
- Rinse the radish: Rinse the brined radish about 4 times under cold water to wash off all the salt. Drain well.
- Mix: In a large bowl add the kimchi sauce and the drained radish. Mix together until every radish is well coated in the sauce. Get in there with your hands, wearing gloves is a good idea unless you want red, garlicky hands for a few days.
FERMENT
- Pack and ferment: Transfer to an airtight container. Let sit at room temperature for 1-2 days to start fermentation. Taste it periodically to check where it's at. Once it starts to develop that tangy fermented flavor move it to the fridge. It will continue to slowly ferment in the fridge and gets better over time.