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Green Onion KimchiPhoto: 백합이, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Kimchi 김치

Green Onion Kimchi

파김치

Romanization: pa-kimchi

Slender Korean green onions coated in a thick chili and anchovy-sauce paste — pungent when fresh, mellow and savory once ripe.

Serves
25
Prep
40 min
Cook
5 min

RegionJeolla

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Recipe

Ingredients · Serves 25

Method

Technique: Making Kimchi

  1. Step 1: Trim the roots, peel away any withered outer layers and wash the green onions well. Drain thoroughly.

  2. Step 2: Lay the onions in a wide tray with the white ends together. Pour the fish sauce over the white parts and let them sit for 20–30 minutes, turning once, until the bulbs soften slightly.

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

  4. Step 4: Tilt the tray and pour the fish sauce into a mixing bowl. Stir in the rice paste, gochugaru, garlic, ginger and sugar to make a thick seasoning.

  5. Step 5: Coat the onions with the seasoning, working it into the white parts first and then down the greens. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

  6. Step 6: Gather 4–5 onions at a time, fold them in half and coil into small bundles. Pack tightly into a clean container.

  7. Step 7: Leave at room temperature for about 1 day, then refrigerate. Pa-kimchi is usually best after it has ripened for several days and keeps for a few weeks chilled; discard if slimy or moldy.

Origin & History

Pa-kimchi is made with whole green onions, most often jjokpa, a slender, mild variety, bound in a thick seasoning of chili flakes, garlic and fermented anchovy sauce. It is a dish that improves with a little age: as it ripens, the sharp bite of the raw onion softens into something sweeter and more rounded.

Anchovy sauce (myeolchi-aekjeot) is central to the modern dish, and green onion kimchi is especially beloved in the Jeolla provinces, where it is often preferred to cabbage kimchi.

Key Ingredients

Nutrition

per serving (about 40 g)
Calories20 kcal
Protein1 g
Fat0.2 g
Carbohydrates3.4 g
Fiber1.8 g
Sodium262 mg

Notable forDietary fiber

From the Korean Food Composition Table entry “Kimchi, Pakimchi, Prepared with green onion” (per 100 g: 49 kcal, 655 mg sodium), scaled to the serving size. Homemade batches vary with salting and seasoning. Actual values vary with ingredients, portion size and preparation.

Health Benefits

  • Allium greens: raw green onions are rich in vitamin K and also provide vitamin C and carotenoids, though a small serving of kimchi supplies only part of that.
  • Fermented vegetables: pa-kimchi is fermented by lactic acid bacteria from its ingredients; research on the health effects of fermented vegetables is ongoing.
  • Big flavor, small portions: a few strands go a long way, which suits its role as a condiment-like banchan.

Regional Variations

  • Jeolla: research on regional preferences notes that people in North Jeolla favor pa-kimchi, often over napa cabbage kimchi.
  • Kimjang leftovers: a thrifty home practice is to mix spare green onions with the seasoning left over from making cabbage kimchi.
  • Seasoning base: recipes vary between anchovy sauce alone and blends that add salted shrimp, glutinous rice paste or fruit for sweetness.

Sources

  1. 01Onions, spring or scallions (includes tops and bulb), raw (FDC 170005) — USDA FoodData Central
  2. 02Korean Food Composition Table: Kimchi, Pakimchi, Prepared with green onion — National Institute of Agricultural Sciences
  3. 03Formation of Biogenic Amines in Pa (Green Onion) Kimchi and Gat (Mustard Leaf) Kimchi (Foods, 2019)
  4. 04파김치 - 세계한민족문화대전 (Encyclopedia of Overseas Korean Culture)
  5. 05Understanding and Making Kimchi - Colorado State University Extension (Food Smart Colorado)

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