I made kimchi 2 days ago and it is way too bland and white. It's my 5th time or something of making kimchi and even though I always use the same recipe it always comes out different. This time I did everything the same except for I didn't have any carrots or radish to put in it. The paste I made looked and tasted pretty nice before I mixed it with the cabbage but right now it doesn't have any flavor to it and all I can taste is the raw cabbage. Also it doesn't bubble even the slightest T-T
This time I got too brave and got a very big cabbage so I don't want to waste it. I don't know how to fix it or even if it is possible to fix. Should I make more of the paste and mix it again? I need advice badly.
I took some of it out to show it (idk if it will help at all lol)
by pitterpatterhan
7 Comments
Make some more paste and mix it in.
If it’s not bubbly yet, just give it more time. Cooler temperatures affect the speed of fermentation.
More paste is a good idea to add to whole batch, but when kimchi is bland or not fermented, I take out a portion I can eat in a few days and season with some rice vinegar, fish sauce, and sesame oil.
Add a little more salt, fish sauce, or saeujeot ASAP! Eating not-too-salty kimchi is all right if you’re going to enjoy it as geotjeori but if you taste straight up plain cabbage… it sounds somewhat wrong.
If you can, try to get some carrot/radish when you re-season. It might be fermenting slowly or not at all because it’s lacking the sugars and yeasts from the other vegetables. Green onion would also help flavor a lot
Can you share your recipe? It just doesn’t look like there’s nearly enough paste. I don’t see any gochugaru, just some coarse chili flakes so I’d love to understand what you were trying to achieve.
The napa cabbage doesn’t look like it was brined during the prep stage. Also probably needs more time to ferment.
your kimchi looks like it’s missing the first important step, salt/brine it to draw out most of the moisture.