It's okay, you can make Korean food.
Ingredient guide
Napa cabbage fermented with gochugaru, garlic, ginger and salted seafood or fish sauce. Fresh kimchi is crisp and bright; as it ages it turns tangier and softer, which is exactly what you want for cooking in stews and fried rice.
Sour, salty, spicy and savory. It gets tangier the longer it ferments.
Refrigerated jars or bags at Korean and Asian groceries and many supermarkets. For cooking, riper, more sour kimchi is better. Vegan versions exist if you avoid fish sauce.
Keep refrigerated, packed down under its brine. It lasts for months and simply keeps souring.
Works in any country — look for these names, in these kinds of shops.
Honest swaps, with amounts per unit of the original and how the dish will change.
For each 1 cup kimchi: 1 cup drained sauerkraut + 1 tsp chili flakes + 1 minced garlic clove + a splash of fish sauce (approximate)
Gives you the tang, not the full chili-garlic-umami of kimchi — add the extras and taste as you go.
▼ spicy depth▲ tang
