Dongchimi Recipe — How to Make Radish Water Kimchi

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg young Korean radish (mu or yeolmu), halved or wedged, greens trimmed to a short stub and rinsed of grit
• 2 Tbsp coarse salt for the first toss
• 1.5 L filtered water + 33 g coarse salt + 12–15 g sugar (about 2.2% salt)
• 3–5 garlic cloves smashed, 1 inch ginger sliced, 2 scallion whites
• Optional: 1 Asian pear sliced, green chili rings, a kelp strip for 20 minutes then pulled

Steps

1. Salt the radishes lightly 30 minutes. Rinse once. Do not peel young mu — the skin keeps crunch and color.
2. Dissolve salt and sugar in the water. Cool completely. Taste: pleasantly salty, not seawater. Weigh the salt.
3. Pack radish, garlic, ginger, scallion, and pear in a clean jar. Pour brine to cover plus 2 cm. Weight so nothing sits in air. Leave 15–20% headspace.
4. Cool room 24–48 hours until a faint fizz, then the coldest fridge shelf. Taste at day 2, 5, and 7. Ready when the brine is tangy and the radish is no longer raw-starchy.
5. Serve a small bowl of brine plus two or three radish pieces next to grill or tteokbokki. Strain brine for a cold noodle cup. Keep submerged; fridge about a month.