The first step is making the kimchi paste. This is done by mixing together some starch, salt, protein, sugar, water, and other ingredients.

This paste varies from family to family, and in my case, from batch to batch! So this is less a recipe, more of a set of guidelines. In this batch I used:

1 cup of cooked rice. Some recipes call for rice flour, but cooked rice is easy and cheap. If you don't do rice, use any starchy substance.

2 cups water. Or broth. Any broth works fine here, just make sure the fats are gone, or you'll get fatty lumps in your kimchi

1/2 cup Korean red pepper. You do NOT need this to make good kimchi. It basically makes the kimchi red, which is important to Koreans, and it also adds vitamins and changes the bacterial mix somewhat. But red pepper is a recent addition to the recipe, and it will ferment just fine without it. Korean "white" kimchi does not include red pepper.

Salted shrimp: I used 1/2 a cup of salted shrimp in this batch. That adds "shrimp" or seafood flavor, which is important to kimchi purists. Adding some kind of seafood -- fish sauce, raw squid or oysters, salted shrimp, fish sauce -- adds to the flavor.  If you don't have access to such ingredients though, a can of shrimp pieces works great.

However, if you are sensitive to MSG: LEAVE THIS OUT. Fermented protein is what creates MSG. For most folks, naturally fermented shrimp just isn't an issue. It might be for you though. If it is, don't do it. You'll still get great kimchi!

Acid: Adding a little vinegar, lemon juice, or juice from the last batch of kimchi is good "insurance" against mold or "bad bacteria". Having said this, I have to also say that I've never had a batch of cabbage-based Kimchi ever turn bad, with or without the acid or starter. 

Salt: When you are done making this paste, it should taste pleasantly salty, like a good soup. If it is overly salty, it just won't ferment. It will be "preserved" and remain in it's pristine state for decades. If there is too little salt, it might form mold or turn into this slimy stinky "blob" of a thing.

Much is made of the kind of salt used. The first batch of kimchi I saw being made, was when I was 14. It was made using plain ol' table salt, several heads of Napa, and a plastic bucket. No pepper, shrimp. or rice paste. Just salt and cabbage. It tasted great! Seriously great. There may be some good reasons to use real sea salt, because iodine changes the ferment, in theory. But in practice, I can't tell the difference. Use whatever works for you.

So, after you blend the above mentioned ingredients, you'll get this thick paste.

Granted I did this in a Blendtec, on the "soup" setting. But you can just blend them in any ol' blender, then cook them on the stove. In either event, the paste gets HOT, and turns into a thick paste.

Which is what we want. The paste should be like glue. It's going to glue to the cabbage leaves and start the ferment on the right track.

After you have this paste, store it somewhere. Meanwhile, turn your attention back to your main ingredients, specifically the greens (like Napa). You want to wash these, then cut them up and salt them, so they wilt. Typically this is overnight, for me. If you don't want to use salt here, just set the cabbage out in the sun. It will wilt!

Why do we want wilty cabbage? If the cabbage wilts, water is being drawn from the tissues. Ironically, this makes for crispier kimchi, because the fermentation process tends to draw in TOO MUCH water, which bursts the cells, making the kimchi mushy.

Now, you want to mix the paste with the wilted cabbage. Here is my high tech method! Add paste, and mix it all up. Gloves are a good idea here, and I should have been using them. The paste is pretty hard on your hands, and you do want your hands clean.

Then you just pack the pasted cabbage/vegies into jars. You can smoosh down the cabbage, if you like, but it doesn't matter all that much. You can also add a salted cabbage leaf, or weights. But mostly, it doesn't matter. It will ferment just fine.

There are two things you should do. First, use a plastic lid. The mixture will ferment, and if the lid is metal, the glass can explode.

Second, put the jars on a tray or shallow pan. They will leak. Goopy stuff, all over your counter. A pan at least keeps it in one place. The leaking will stop (mostly) when you put it in the fridge though.

After 2 days, the mix should be bubbly. That's the time to put it in the fridge, and/or eat it! It might keep a long time if buried, but it does get more "sour" and soft after some time, in which case it's mainly good for making soup. So don't make too much at one time. Besides, if you make it more often you get more of a chance to experiment with ingredients!