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Kimchi 김치

Ponytail Radish Kimchi

총각김치

Romanization: chonggak-kimchi

Small, firm radishes kimchi'd whole with their green tops in a chili and salted-shrimp paste — crunchy, juicy and a fixture of the winter kimjang.

Serves
25
Prep
60 min
Cook
5 min
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Recipe

Ingredients · Serves 25

Method

Technique: Making Kimchi

  1. Step 1: Trim off the hairy root tips and any yellowed leaves. Scrape away blemishes with the back of a knife, keeping the skin where possible, and wash well, especially where the greens meet the root. Halve or quarter any radishes thicker than about 4 cm, splitting them down through the leaves so each piece keeps its greens.

  2. Step 2: Spread the radishes in a large tub and scatter the salt over them, mostly on the roots. Salt for 1–1½ hours, turning halfway, until the greens are limp and the roots bend slightly.

  3. Step 3: Meanwhile, whisk the rice flour into the water and cook over medium heat, stirring, for 3–5 minutes until thin and glossy. Cool completely.

  4. Step 4: Rinse the radishes once and drain in a colander for 30 minutes. Taste a piece of root: it should be lightly seasoned.

  5. Step 5: Toss the radishes with the gochugaru first so the color takes evenly. Then add the cooled paste, fish sauce, saeujeot, garlic, ginger, sugar and green onions, and mix well with gloved hands.

  6. Step 6: Fold the greens of two or three radishes around their roots to form small bundles and pack tightly into a clean jar, pressing out air and leaving 5 cm of headspace. Pour any seasoning left in the bowl over the top.

  7. Step 7: Ferment at cool room temperature for 1–2 days, until it smells lightly sour, then refrigerate. It is good after about a week and at its best after 2–3 weeks; it keeps for a couple of months chilled, growing more sour. Keep it pressed down, use clean utensils, and discard if slimy or moldy.

Origin & History

Chonggak-kimchi is made from chonggak-mu, small radishes with compact, firm roots that are pickled whole, leafy tops and all. The Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture traces the closest early relative of today's recipe — radish with its greens, seasoned with chili, green onion, garlic, ginger and salted fish — to the Jeungbo sallim gyeongje of 1766, although radish kimchi in general is far older.

For much of the 20th century the radish went by other names, such as altari or aldari, and kimchi made from it was called almu-kimchi or almu-kkakdugi. A 1948 cookbook gives a clear recipe for it under the kkakdugi heading. The name chonggak-kimchi surfaces in print only around 1959–1961, in a women's magazine and newspaper kimjang features; the 1988 revision of standard Korean then adopted chonggak-mu over altari-mu.

The name is usually explained by the radish's shape. Chonggak (總角) originally described the way unmarried boys bound their hair into two horn-like knots before they came of age; the plump root with its sprig of leaves is said to resemble that hairstyle, and the word later came to mean a bachelor. Since the 1970s chonggak-kimchi has become one of the most commonly made kimjang kimchi, alongside napa cabbage kimchi.

Key Ingredients

Nutrition

per serving (about 60 g)
Calories25 kcal
Protein1.2 g
Fat0.2 g
Carbohydrates4.7 g
Fiber1.4 g
Sodium378 mg

Notable forDietary fiber · Vitamin K

From the Korean Food Composition Table entry “Kimchi, Chongkakkimchi, Prepared with small radish” (per 100 g: 42 kcal, 630 mg sodium, 2.4 g fiber), scaled to the serving size. Homemade batches vary with salting and seasoning. Actual values vary with ingredients, portion size and preparation.

Health Benefits

  • Root and leaf together: because the greens are eaten along with the radish, Korean references note that chonggak-kimchi is especially nourishing; the leaves contribute vitamin K and other nutrients the root alone lacks.
  • Fiber and crunch: a serving offers a little dietary fiber for very few calories.
  • Fermented vegetables: it ripens through naturally occurring lactic acid bacteria, and unpasteurized kimchi contains live microbes; how much they benefit health is still being studied.

Regional Variations

  • Chonggak-kkakdugi: the standard style, generously seasoned with chili, garlic, ginger, salted shrimp and a glutinous rice paste.
  • Roots and greens apart: for a tidier jar, some cooks season the roots and greens separately, layering the lightly seasoned greens on top with a little water to keep the radishes from drying out.
  • Chonggak-dongchimi: a chili-free water kimchi in which the whole radishes ripen in salt brine with garlic, ginger and green onions.
  • Over-ripe kimchi: once a winter batch turns very sour, it is often rinsed and simmered into stews.

Sources

  1. 01Korean Food Composition Table: Kimchi, Chongkakkimchi, Prepared with small radish — National Institute of Agricultural Sciences
  2. 02총각김치(總角김치) - 한국민족문화대백과사전 (Encyclopedia of Korean Culture)
  3. 03총각김치 - 한국민속대백과사전 (Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture)
  4. 04[홍성호 기자의 열려라! 우리말] '총각'을 닮아서 '총각무'라고 하죠 - 한국경제 생글생글
  5. 05Is my kimchi safe to eat? - Oregon State University Extension Service

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