Korean Fresh Kimchi, Geotjeroi
Today I’m sharing a delicious fresh kimchi recipe- we call Geotjeori!
Usually, kimchi is a fermented – pungent, sour, intense flavor. But this fresh kimchi recipe is NOT! It has all the flavors from kimchi you want but doesn’t have the funkiness, which is much easier to manage. It’s like spicy Napa cabbage salad.
It does not require to ferment, so you can eat it right after you make it. 🙂
I personally LOVE geotjeori, and my mom used to make it all the time, especially when guests came to our house or during Korean holidays. Growing up, geotjeori is a special treat to our family.
With this geotjeori and freshly cooked warm rice together… AH! Need I say more?! SO GOOOOOOOOOOOD!!
I do have a secret ingredient for my geotjeori – which is Apricot jam.
It gives a fruity sweetness and slight tanginess, which works fantastic in this recipe!
It is the best when it’s fresh- but you can keep this kimchi in your refrigerator for about a week. I recommend you make a small amount of this recipe, so you don’t have to waste it.
Geotjeori can be your main dish with just a bowl of rice, or it will be a fantastic side dish for your BBQ party, potluck, and all! If you want to make this recipe vegetarian, substitute fish sauce with light soy sauce; it will work just fine!
When I have my friends over to my house, this is a MUST side dish I have to make. Everyone loves so much, even some of those who don’t like kimchi! I’m just so happy to serve Korean food to my loved ones. 🙂
You MUST give this recipe a try one day, even though you are not a fan of kimchi! This kimchi recipe will change your life!! I promise to you! 😀
Geot-Jeori : Korean Fresh Kimchi
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 5 1x
Ingredients
For Salted Cabage
- 2 1/2 lb. Napa cabbage
- 2 cups Cold water
- 1/3 cup Sempio coarse sea salt
For Kimchi Paste
- 5 Cloves garlic
- 3 Green onions
- 4 Tbs. Gochugaru, Korean red pepper flakes
- 2 Tbs. Fish sauce
- 2 Tbs. Apricot preserve
- 1 Tbs. Toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Cut napa cabbage in quarter, and remove stem. In a large bowl, add yellow small part of cabbage leaves as whole, and rest of bigger leaves cut into about 3 inch long and 1 inch wide then add into bowl as well. Doesn’t need to be exact sizes, actually uneven cut cabbage pieces are better for texture.
- Mix cold water and sea salt until salt has absorbed; pour over cabbage. Toss cabbage pieces to mix well with salted water and press it down as much as possible. Let it soak for 40 minutes. Half way though time, toss upside down so cabbage will soak evenly.
- Meanwhile, let make kimchi paste.
Finely chop garlic and cut green onion into half in lengthwise then cut into 1inch long pieces.
- Add all ingredients for kimchi paste accept sesame seeds in a mixing bowl and combine, set aside.
- Drain salted cabbage and rinse under running cold water for about 1 minute to get rid of excess salt and some dust. Drain completely about 5 minutes.
- Combine cabbage and paste in a large mixing bowl and mix with your hand (I recommend you to wear a plastic glove) with gentle pressure and squeeze action, so cabbage will absorb color and flavor of paste very well.
- Add toasted sesame seeds and give a light final toss, transfer to a serving plate and serve immediately with some garnish of extra sprinkle sesame seeds.
Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 50 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
83 comments
I love Kim Chee and this looks easy and delicious. Could I use coarse kosher salt instead of the sea salt? Thanks in advance for your help.
You can, it just tradition to use sea salt to salting cabbage in Korea.
Hi! Do you have other kimchi recipe that last more than a week, maybe a months??
★★★★★
Yes, if you go to the search tool and look up “Kimchi”, all different types of my kimchi recipes will show up, and all of them should last more than a week and even months!
Instead of using apricot preserve could I use MAESILAEK KOREAN PLUM?
Yes you can! That is preferred over the apricot preserve!
hi great recipe! cant wait to try it out. quick question, how long can i store it in the fridge?
About a week. 🙂
What can I substitute for apricot preserve?
Apple jam would work as well.
Can I use pineapple jam instead?
Yes!
I couldn’t find apricot preserves so i bought peach, that should work right!?
YES!! It should work perfectly!!
Do you think I can use grapefruit jelly? That’s what I have at home right now and I’m trying to get rid of it :p
That’s interesting…. I’ve never had grapefruit jelly before? Does it have a bitter taste? Then it might not work.. but if the bitter taste is not too strong, it might!
Have tried this and it is wonderful! Taste good!
Can I omit the fish sauce to make it vegan or any vegan sub ins for fish sauce??
Yes, you can. Add 1 tsp of leigh soy sauce and omit the fish sauce. Taste and add more salt for your taste before mix with cabbage. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your quick instant kimchi. Gonna try to get all the ingredients & start doing it. So excited and hope it turns out well.
It’s one of my go-to kimchi recipe all time! Even my mom is so proud of me with this recipe! hope you love as much as me and my family did!! Good luck in your kitchen~!
Hi Seonkyoung I made “GEOT-JEORI : KOREAN FRESH KIMCH” last night. As I was not able to get all the ingredients as per your recipe, I made some changes.
1. I used spicy red chilly powder instead of “Gochugaru, Korean red pepper flakes”
2. I used Soy Sauce in place of Fish Sauce
3. I used Orange Ginger preserve as I could not get apricot preserve.
The kimchi looks good but not as red as yours. The only problem is, its very spicy (hot) and the salt seems to be less. Can I add salt now??
Hello Parvathi!
For the Korean kimchi’s signature red color, you have to use Korean red pepper flakes, Gochugaru. Otherwise, it will be very tough to get the beautiful red color.
Fish sauce is seems to be more saltier than soy sauce, so please godhead and add more salt to your taste! 🙂
Good luck in your kitchen~!
Just finished making this and it Tastes amazing!! Kept expecting the sour flavor from traditional kimchi but once I stopped thinking about that I loved it!!!
Got a little afraid when I opened the fish sauce for the first time. Never smelled it before and it was STRONG! But it doesn’t taste how it smells and doesn’t blow off your taste buds! Used the 3 crabs brand you recommended. Excited to eat this with rice and the Kalbi I’ll be making this weekend! I also made your Ultimate stock today and the smell was heavenly!!
I Put it in the Kalbi marinade for a BBQ this weekend. Did a lot of cooking today and am expecting to be the star of the Bbq!!!!!! Gonna make GYERAN JJIM with the rest of the stock. I split it and froze the other half.
Thank you so much for teaching me to make delicious Korean/Asian food and making it easy and really fun!!! Thank you Jacob for helping film her and sharing your time with her with us!! Love you both!
You’re Da Bomb!!!!!!!!!✌?
WOW, Sammy, you cooked up like a storm!!! How amazing!! Thank you so much for sharing all your experience with the recipes, and I wish you the best BBQ party EVER!! Sounds like you got the food down, like a pro! Wish I could come to your BBQ to enjoy all the delicious food you made! I will let Jacob know about your comment, he will be really appreciate too! 🙂 Love you!! ❤️
I can’t wait to try this! Is there a reason why it can only be good in the fridge for a week? Wouldn’t it just ferment like usual kimchi? 🙂 Just curious, thanks so much!
It will get watery and the cabbage will start having kinda old smell after up to 5-7 days. You will see what I’m talking about when the days going by and smell/taste it. 🙂 It happens only because the cabbage didn’t soak in salted water long enough (as regular meant-to-be-fermented kimchi). Hope this helps!
Seonkyoung, if we soak it for a bit longer, like a few more hours, will we be able to keep it like regular kimchi?
same question with lisa, please advise, dear 🙂
I have the same question 🙂 kisses and thank you for all these delicious recipes that my family loves
So this recipe fermenting will not create the traditional kimchi, this is meant to eat as fresh kimchi with no fermentation. So I would suggest eating it fresh. Hope this helped!
Hi Seon Kyoung!
I made this today, (though I did not have apricot preserves, so I used a local pineapple jam) and it was amazing!! My husband who does not eat kimchi tried it and asked for more to eat with his bulgogi. It was really good! Thank you so much for this recipe!
WOW! I’m so happy to hear that Joy!!! YAY!!! So proud of you!!! 😉 Xoxo
I’m so excited to have found your site! And to try this recipe! I love Korean food mostly because of the banchans, and I’m looking forward to trying all of yours. I like kimchi that is not very fermented and look everywhere for Korean restaurants that have non-fermented kim chi. I especially like the kimchi that has raw oyster in it. Can you add raw oyster to this recipe?
You can definitely add raw oyster into this recipe! Yummy!!
My Korean dad makes kimchi almost just like this. He doesn’t really like strongly fermented kimchi, so this was the only recipe I knew until the internet and food blogs..and the recent interest that make Korean cookbooks easier to find.
The only difference is he uses firm pear or apple slices instead of jam or jelly.
Hi oenni..i just like to see so simple recipe…and i want to try to make it right away..but i dont have apricot preserve or apple jam, but i have pineapple jam the one that used to make a pineapple cookies, can i use that? The consistensy is thicker than apricot preserves..thanks for sharing…love you oenie
I think it will actually work! Try it with pineapple jam! 🙂
Your recipe is so similar to the kimchi that I use to purchase when I lived in Japan. There was a gentleman who “specialized” in pickle making and had a vendor stand in front of the grocery store. Even though it was very expensive, it was so and delicious and his sauce was thick and red like this… I love the fermented kimchi, this is my new found recipe. I used jalapeno peach jam that I got at the farmers market….The rice cooker is on and I know this won’t last a week in this house…THANK YOU for posting this…YUM!
Hi Sandy! Love the idea of jalapeño peach jam for this recipe! Next time I would love try, if I can get it from Sacramento farmers market when they open on March next year!! I almost can smell your house with freshly cooked rice and kimchi… ummm~!!!
At 50+, I have never tried Kimchi and this will be a first for our family. :P. We dont have a Korean market where I live so, I will have to order the red pepper flake from Amazon. I’m hoping our grocery will have the Napa cabbage too. Looks so crunchy packed with flavor good! Cannot wait to try it. I also would like to purchase an talking English Cockoo pressurized rice cooker. ;). I love watching you cook — thank you for inspiration! 😉
Wow! I really wish your first time trying kimchi turning out deliciously Eva!!! Its napa cabbage season, so hopefully you can find some good napa cabbage at your local grocery store!
I just made this and it is soooo good. I’m going to make your Korean stock and tteokbokki tomorrow and I plan to make your kimchi jjigae once the kimchi I got at the Asian market *they make theirs themselves* becomes more sour. I can’t wait. I love your recipes so much.
YAY~! I’m so glad Monique! I just made tteokbokki the other day too! hehehe Hope you enjoy all the delicious recipes at home~!
If I let the cabbage soak longer in the salt, could I keep it in the fridge for a longer time? I’m really looking forward to trying this recipe! Looks awesome!!
Not really, this kimchi will actually go bad after 10 days, (not like normal fermented kimchi) because it doesn’t have all the ingredients to ferment correctly.
Is it bad to have it soak longer, eg a little over an hour?
Recently discovered your videos and your recipes are sooo awesome! I can’t wait to try the Korean Fried Chicken. Have a great day!
You can soak longer, but remember that will make it saltier! 😉
This looks so yummy and easy! Can we use this kimchi to make kimchi fried rice?
Hello, love your recipes! I was wondering if I can use this type of kimchi for making kimchi stew, kimchi fried rice etc?
This kimchi doesn’t have sour taste to make those dishes delicious. Kimchi jjigae or kimchi fried rice needs to use sour, well fermented kimchi for the best result!
Hi SeonKyoung I really like your recipe it looks so delicious when you eat it . Can I use gojuchang instead of gochucharu ? Thanks 😊
You can, in that case just reduce the amount of apricot preserve/jam! 🙂
Can I use fig spread instead of apricot preserve?
It will do the job… but just remember fig spread might be too sweet and have the seeds texture.
This looks lovely! Can i opt out fish sauce? My husband is vegan…
you can use vegetarian fish sauce! You can purchase here! https://amzn.to/2CQxMDY
Can you add oyster to this kimchee?
You can just toss in at last! However, I recommend you to add the oyster into only the amount you will eat that day because it won’t keep it good no more than a day. (This is it fermented kimchi, it’s salad type of it- this kimchi doesn’t have enough slat to be preserved.) So the best is eaten then same day you make them.
Hi Seonkyoung! Can I use chili flakes instead of pepper flakes?
Hey!! Loving your videos! Btw can u add Gouchujang to it… We don’t have the red pepper flakes but I have the sauce… If I use it what will be the diff in the ingredients or the dish!?? Thank you!
i’m desperate to make the Kimchi-Jjigae, and of all the recipes i’ve seen, i like yours best, but there are so many ingredients i’d have a hard time locating at … Walmart. i’m a dedicated Amazon Prime shopper (hence, the gochujang and gochugaru, sweet rice flour, etc.), but the sheer AMOUNT of kimchi your recipe makes is WAY TOO MUCH for one little old person and one 1-gallon fermentation jar. then i checked out this (smaller-sized) recipe, only to read that you don’t recommend it for the Kimchi-Jiggae. what shall i do? i have to do the fermented kimchi, but i have to do the smaller amount. can you help me?
check out my vegan kimchi recipe! That one also small amount kimchi recipe that made with only 1 napa cabbage! https://seonkyounglongest.com/vegan-kimchi/
You can substitute the persimmon to apricot jam if you can’t find persimmon! Good luck Hollis!
Is this recipe spicy? What variation can I do to make this less spicy?
I’ve only ever had store bought kimchi, so I wanted to try this recipe before committing to all of the ingredients for the real deal…so delicious!
Can baby napa cabbage be used to make the kimchi?
Can I use baby napa cabbage to make the kimchi?
I’ve never tried with baby napa cabbage but it will definitely will work!
Does Kimchi taste sour ? Thanks.
the sourness is depending on what type of kimchi or how long it’s fermented
Hi SeonYoung,
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I have tried it many times and all my family members love the kimchi. Only thing I change was – I substitute pineapple preserve for apricot preserve. Your recipe is easy and simple but taste is fantastic!
Really happy I managed to chance upon your website.
can i cook this type of kimchi? like in your soup recipes or fried rice.
i love watching your channel but have difficulty finding ingredients here in the uk.
ive only done the galbi, banchan spinach and beansprouts, bibimbap and doenjang jigae. i love korean food and i love you and your channel. keep cooking and sharing. we all need asian food in our lives.
Can I use honey instead of jam?
Yes, that should be okay.
Can I use strawberry jam??
No strawberry would not work wit this recipe. I would recommend apple jam.
seonkyoung if i dont have any jam? what can i substitute it with?. thank you!
I tried this recipe using pepper powder but that left a sandy texture. Can you share what brand is your pepper flakes? I might have bought the wrong bag.
Thank you!
Hi Seonkyoung,
My daughter asked me if she can try kimchi. Both of us don’t eat a lot of spicy foods. However, we want to try kimchi as it has a lot of health benefits. I like to use Hungarian sweet paprika – which gives food the nice red color without the heat. Just wondering if I can substitute Korean red pepper flakes with the sweet paprika without sacrificing the taste. If i omit the red pepper flakes, to make a baek kimchi, do I lose some of the health benefits of the kimchi. Looking forward to making this recipe! Thanks.
One more question. Since this is a fresh kimchi i.e. not fermented, do we still get health benefits of kimchi?
I have made this twice already! An absolutely yummy kimchi, short and simple, and flavor straight to the point Thank you so much!
★★★★★
Hello!
Can you tell me why you use Apricot or anything sweet in the Kimchi? Does it make it Sweet? I like mine fermented and spicy.
Yes, apricot jam is for a sweet flavor. If you like fermented kimchi, I recommend you to make my Mak Kimchi or Traditional Kimchi recipe. This is Geotjeori- not fermented kimchi.