Mul kimchi means “water kimchi” — a lighter, brothy cousin of the spicy fermented cabbage most people picture when they hear the word “kimchi.” This version gets its sunny color and a subtle natural sweetness from yellow bell pepper, which is blended into a paste and mixed with a rice-flour porridge to create the fermenting brine. Fruit like pear and apple add extra sweetness and help along the fermentation, while purple sweet potato and radish give the dish little pops of color and crunch.
Water kimchis like this one are traditionally served as a refreshing side dish, especially in warmer months, or ladled over rice or noodles with a bit of the tangy brine. Because there’s no chili paste, it’s much milder than typical kimchi, making it a good entry point for those who are new to fermented Korean vegetables.
This is a make-ahead dish — most of the work is passive, as the kimchi needs about three days to ferment and develop its signature tang. It’s a great project if you want to explore Korean fermentation without the heat of gochugaru.
Ingredients
- Purple sweet potato 10g (about a 3cm/1-inch piece)
- Radish 10g (about a 2cm/1-inch piece)
- Korean pear 80g (about 1/4 pear)
- Napa cabbage 200g (about 1/3 head)
- Garlic chives 10g
- Apple 80g (about 1/3 apple)
- Scallion (green onion) 10g (about 10cm/4 inches)
- Salt 20g (about 1⅓ tablespoons)
- Short-grain rice 10g (about 2 teaspoons)
- Corn syrup (mul-yeot) 50g (about 1/4 cup)
- Yellow bell pepper 140g (about 1½ peppers)
Instructions
- Blend the yellow bell pepper and pass it through a sieve. Make a thin rice porridge from the short-grain rice, mix it with the strained bell pepper juice, and stir in the corn syrup to make the seasoning liquid.
- Salt the napa cabbage in salted water to soften it, then rinse the salted cabbage in cold water to remove excess salt.
- Place the drained cabbage in a container with julienned purple sweet potato, radish, scallion, garlic chives, apple, and pear, pour the seasoning liquid over everything, and let it ferment for 3 days to finish.
Tips & Variations
A few notes to help this recipe go smoothly outside Korea:
- Yellow bell pepper can be swapped with orange bell pepper if yellow isn’t available; the color and sweetness will be very similar.
- Korean pear (baesu) is juicier and less grainy than Western pears — if you can’t find one, a very ripe Bosc or Anjou pear works as a substitute.
- Mul-yeot (corn syrup) is a thick Korean rice or corn syrup available at Korean grocery stores; light corn syrup or a mild honey can be used in a pinch, though the flavor will be slightly different.
- Make sure to rinse the salted cabbage well in step 2 — too much residual salt will throw off the balance of the fermenting brine.
- Ferment at room temperature for the first day, then move the container to the refrigerator to slow fermentation and develop flavor gradually over the remaining two days. Taste on day 3 and adjust fermentation time to your preference for tanginess.
Nutrition
- Calories: 44.9 kcal
- Carbohydrates: 10.1 g
- Protein: 1.1 g
- Fat: 0 g
- Sodium: 272 mg