Pa-kimchi, a traditional Korean spring onion kimchi that’s all about punchy heat and savoury depth. It was originally made by farmers to preserve spring onions after harvest, and I’ve kept it pretty classic while making sure it works just as well eaten straight away as it does after fermenting. Fresh, sharp and fiery, and given time, it softens and rounds out into something deeper and more balanced. Either way, it’s simple, bold, and exactly what spring onions were made for.
Category
Lunch
Servings
2L
Prep time
1 minute
Cook time
5 minutes
Pa-kimchi, a traditional Korean spring onion kimchi that’s all about punchy heat and savoury depth. It was originally made by farmers to preserve spring onions after harvest, and I’ve kept it pretty classic while making sure it works just as well eaten straight away as it does after fermenting. Fresh, sharp and fiery, and given time, it softens and rounds out into something deeper and more balanced. Either way, it’s simple, bold, and exactly what spring onions were made for.
Ingredients
-
4 bunches spring onions (approximately 30 onions)
-
200ml fish sauce
-
600ml water
-
40g glutinous rice flour
-
4 cloves garlic
-
1 thumb-size piece fresh ginger
-
25g caster sugar
-
150g Gochugaru
Directions
Prep the onions
Wash and trim the ends of the spring onions. Place in a large mixing bowl.
Pour over the fish sauce and start to massage through the onions. Mix every 10 minutes like this for 1 hour.
Make the chilli paste
Heat the water in a large saucepan over medium heat to just a simmer.
Whisk in the rice flour until smooth, then turn off the heat set aside for 15 minutes to cool.
Finely grate the garlic and ginger. Whisk into the rice mixture, along with the sugar and Gochugaru.
Mix and store
Mix the chilli paste with the spring onions until well combined. Pack this tightly into containers or jars and seal.
Now, at this point, you can leave the kimchi out at room temperature to ferment for one week, making sure you burp the jars every day to let the gases out, then refrigerate. Or you can just refrigerate it as it is if you prefer to keep it fresh.
Recipe notes
Cook support
Take your time to massage the spring onions to help them soften and wearing disposable gloves during the final mix will make the cleanup much easier.
Sourcing
Gochugaru and glutinous rice flour is available from Asian grocers and some major supermarkets.
Storage
This stores well in a tall glass container or jar, or a thick plastic container.
You can leave the kimchi out at room temperature to ferment for one week, making sure you burp the jars every day to let the gases out, then refrigerate. Or you can just refrigerate it as it is if you prefer to keep it fresh.
Serving ideas
I love adding Kimchi to salads or on top of steamed veg. It's also great as a side for chicken, beef or lamb or you can add it to a broth based soup for instead flavour and added heat.
