Geotjeori, the Fresh Kimchi My Mother Makes to Eat Right Away

Geotjeori, fresh napa cabbage kimchi with chili seasoning and pieces of chives, in a small white dish

When people outside Korea think of kimchi, they usually picture a big batch fermenting for weeks. Geotjeori is the opposite: a fresh, crunchy kimchi you season and eat the same day. My mother taught me to make it, and it’s something I make often, because it takes less than an hour and doesn’t need a whole season of fermenting.

To be honest, I didn’t like geotjeori much as a child. I came to love it more and more as I got older.

Ingredients (2 small napa cabbages, about 1 kg / 2.2 lb, for 2 to 4 people)

For salting

Small napa cabbage, also sold as baby napa cabbage (albaechu): 2 heads, about 1 kg
Coarse salt: 30 g

For the seasoning

Gochugaru (Korean chili flakes): 4 to 5 tablespoons
Anchovy fish sauce (myeolchi aekjeot): 2 tablespoons
Salted shrimp (saeujeot): 1 tablespoon
Minced garlic: 1 1/2 tablespoons
Minced ginger: 1/2 teaspoon
Sugar: 1 tablespoon
Korean green plum syrup (maesil-cheong): 1 tablespoon, optional
Jjokpa (Korean chives / thin green onions): 50 g
Onion: 1/4, thinly sliced
Toasted sesame seeds: 1 tablespoon
Sesame oil: 1 teaspoon

Cut the cabbage

Cut off the base and separate the leaves.
Wash them well under running water.
Split the large leaves lengthwise once, then cut them into 4 to 5 cm (about 2 inch) pieces.
Small inner leaves can stay whole or be cut in half.

A head of napa cabbage on a wooden table

Salt it briefly

Geotjeori is salted for a shorter time than regular napa cabbage kimchi. That’s what keeps it crunchy.

Put the 1 kg of cut cabbage in a large bowl.
Sprinkle 30 g of coarse salt evenly, focusing on the thick white stems.
Toss lightly with your hands.
Leave it at room temperature for 30 to 40 minutes, turning everything over once after 15 to 20 minutes.

It’s done when the stems bend slightly but still crunch.

Rinse and drain, gently

Rinse the salted cabbage lightly in cold water, once or twice.
Taste a piece. If it’s still too salty, rinse once more.
Drain it in a colander for 10 to 15 minutes.

Don’t squeeze it hard with your hands. That bruises the cabbage.

Season in two steps

The seasoning, especially the fish sauce, is what matters most in geotjeori: too much and too little are both a problem. Honestly, the real know-how comes from making it several times. However much someone explains it, you only get it right once you’ve tried it yourself.

Mix the gochugaru, fish sauce, salted shrimp, garlic, ginger, sugar, and plum syrup (if using) into a seasoning paste.

Coarse Korean chili flakes (gochugaru) in a glass bowl

Photo: Stacy Spensley, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Put the drained cabbage in a large bowl.
Add about two-thirds of the seasoning first and toss gently.
Taste, then add the rest of the seasoning as needed.
Add the jjokpa and sliced onion.
Sprinkle the sesame seeds on last.

Trimmed jjokpa (thin Korean green onions) in a metal colander

If you’re eating it right away, a little sesame oil is a nice addition.

Geotjeori topped with toasted sesame seeds and pieces of green onion on a white plate

Photo: 뚱표아빠의 세상사는 이야기, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Eat it fresh

Geotjeori tastes best right after you make it. If you let it ripen too long, it loses the fresh, crisp character that makes it geotjeori. My favorite way to eat it is simply with a bowl of warm rice. It’s also the best match I know for kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup), and it goes well alongside suyuk (boiled pork) or grilled meat.

Knife-cut noodles lifted with chopsticks from a pot of kalguksu, with kimchi on the side

Photo: insatiablemunch, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sliced boiled pork (suyuk) served with napa cabbage kimchi

Photo: lazy fri13th, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

If you have some left over, keep it in the fridge and eat it within 3 to 4 days.

For a kimchi that’s meant to ripen for a day or two before you eat it, see How My Mother Taught Me to Make Kkakdugi (Korean Cubed Radish Kimchi).

Other geotjeori I like

Geotjeori isn’t only made with napa cabbage. Lettuce geotjeori is delicious too, and personally I especially like lettuce geotjeori and bomdong geotjeori, made with bomdong, a flat, open-leaved spring cabbage.

A head of bomdong, flat open-leaved spring cabbage

Photo: semizzang, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

If you’re making it for the first time

Try it with lettuce first. It’s less daunting than napa cabbage.
Get the fish sauce right: not too much, not too little.

What went wrong, and how to avoid it

Problem	What causes it	What to do
Too salty	Too much salt, salted too long, not rinsed well enough, or too much fish sauce	30 g salt per 1 kg for 30 to 40 minutes; taste after rinsing and rinse again if needed; go easy on the fish sauce
Lots of liquid, limp instead of crunchy	Not salted enough; not drained enough	Salt for the full time and let it drain 10 to 15 minutes before seasoning
Tough, chewy cabbage	Not salted enough; very thick stems	Salt for the full 30 to 40 minutes, focusing on the stems; split thick leaves
Bitter taste	The cabbage itself was bitter; too much ginger	Keep ginger to 1/2 teaspoon
Strong raw, grassy smell	Not enough seasoning; the cabbage’s own smell	Taste and add the remaining seasoning