Thanks. I can get specialist ingredients, there's a Korean shop and a Chinese shop here so no worries on that score.
Like
UnderAnOpenSky , maangchi was one of my sources, but I used her traditional napa cabbage kimchi
recipe. Other sources were
Korean bapsang, and I think I also found one on serious eats. My final take was somewhat simplified - if there's a Korean store near you, you might want to experiment with the proper shrimp. Essentially it's the same as the Bapsang one, but using generic fish sauce and none of the interesting fishy things. For the dashima broth I used a different recipe that includes dried anchovies, it goes quite a long way so I tend to make a small batch and freeze.
I generally prefer to make it quartered (as opposed to slaw-like/chunks) and store in a main box, then take a quarter out and chop it for the next weekish (I could eat a lot more, but salt). This is how they do it in Korea. In fact they have actual Kimchi drawers in their fridges. At least my friend does. With quartering do note the bit where the recipe says 'just cut at the base' - the cabbages kind of peel apart very neatly, not so many cut edges.
For the rice powder I used
this recipe. I think... But basically it just involves soaking short grain east asian rice for 5 hours plus, then blending to a fine powder. This can also be frozen.
I also highly recommend making kkakdugi, which is cubed radish kimchi. Dressed with a little sesame oil+seeds it's fucking lush. I used
my korean kitchen for that (actually come to think of it I also may have used her recipe for normal kimchi, or bits of it). Note that the radish is salted for a lot less time than the cabbage recipe. Also some recipes say you shouldn't rinse the radish after salting, but frankly I'd rather keep my salt intake a bit lower.
I usually leave them out for at least a couple of days to kick-start the fermentation, but I haven't actually made kimchi when the weather's hot, so probably less time at the moment. As above, keep in a big box, and just remove and jar with clean implements for the week's eating. Kimchi also goes through stages - can be eaten fresh, then will go a bit fizzy, then develop sour notes. In Korea they keep it a lot longer than the few weeks some recipes recommend, using different phases for different recipes. There is a phase when it's not great, but I have no idea when this is (I am suspecting the fizzy bit) - one day I shall travel to Korea, meet my friend's mum, and find out once and for all. Old kimchi can be fried and used in bibimbap etc. But my friend reckons she's eaten raw kimchi at least 6 months old (actually I think she said a year, but I'm erring on the side of caution), but tbh it doesn't last that long unless you're doing the vast batches suited to seasonable availability of the best veg.
e2a: dunno why that seemed like less effort than just typing up the recipe I eventually settled on.
