Cooking in
Queensland
Korean
Pa Kimchi — Green Onion Kimchi (파김치)
Pa kimchi celebrates the whole green onion — roots, white bulb, and green stalk — fermented in a direct paste without prior salting, relying on the natural water content of the onion and the salt in the yangnyeom to cure as it ferments. The result is intensely savoury, pungent, and deeply umami. Unlike most kimchi, pa kimchi is often eaten very young (same day to three days) when the onion retains some raw bite, or very old (months) when it softens completely and the flavour concentrates dramatically. It is the essential side for naengmyeon in the Pyongan tradition.
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Cook
I
The Market List
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500 g
Jjokpa (쪽파, thin green onions)
roots trimmed but intact, whole stalks retained
For the yangnyeom
60 g
Gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes)
Origin · Korea
40 g
Saeujeot (새우젓, salted fermented shrimp)
roughly chopped
20 g
Garlic
minced to a paste
Your own market
10 g
Fresh ginger
minced to a paste
Origin · New Zealand
Optional
1 tsp
Maesil-cheong (매실청, green plum syrup)
added to the yangnyeom to soften raw pungency; omit if serving to those accustomed to intense fermented onion
II
The Method
1
Inspect the jjokpa and reject any with thick, woody stalks (대파, daepa), then trim only the very base of the roots, leaving the bulb, white stalk, and green stalk fully intact — keeping the stalks whole means the paste will later cling in the natural grooves rather than weeping moisture from a cut face. Rinse under cold water and shake dry. Lay in a single layer on a clean surface and leave uncovered for 10 minutes so the surface looks just slightly matt, not dripping wet, because surface water will thin the paste and stop it adhering evenly.
2
Combine the gochugaru, saeujeot, garlic, and ginger — and the maesil-cheong if using — in a bowl and work together with a spoon until the paste is uniform, thick, and cohesive, so it holds its shape when scooped rather than pooling and settling to the bottom of the fermentation vessel where it would cure the onions unevenly. This is where the dish lives or dies: a paste too loose produces uneven fermentation, a paste too stiff does not coat the stalks.
From the canon — Saeujeot (새우젓) is tiny whole shrimp (primarily Acetes chinensis, the small white shrimp from the Yellow Sea) preserved in salt at a 1:3 shrimp-to-salt ratio … Saeujeot — Salted Fermented Shrimp (새우젓) →
3
Working in the bowl, lay 4–5 stalks of jjokpa together and coat them thoroughly with the yangnyeom from root to tip, pressing the paste deliberately into the layers around the white bulb so no bare white or green shows — those uncoated patches will ferment at a different rate and taste raw against the rest. Fold the dressed stalks back on themselves into a compact sheaf and set aside, then repeat with the remaining onions.
From the canon — Yangnyeom (양념, 'nurturing medicine') is the Korean philosophical and practical concept of seasoning — every seasoning agent applied to food is understood as … Yangnyeom — The Master Seasoning Concept (양념 철학) →
4
Layer the sheaves tightly into a clean, non-reactive container, pressing each bundle snugly against the last so there are no air pockets, because trapped air encourages uneven, off-flavoured fermentation rather than the clean, sour development the dish needs. Arrange the onions so they can be lifted out as intact bundles, seal the container, and leave at room temperature — at this stage the container should smell of raw onion and chilli, sharp, direct, and unfermented.
5
For young pa kimchi eaten from the same day to three days out, the onions retain raw bite and bright pungency; for fully aged pa kimchi left for several months, fermentation concentrates the flavour dramatically and the stalks soften completely into something deeper and more yielding. To assess readiness at any stage, grip a bundle and apply a gentle squeeze — it should yield without snapping, yet hold its structure well enough to lift cleanly from the container without falling apart.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Jjokpa sourced from a single autumn harvest, saeujeot fermented in-house or from a specialist producer, and gochugaru stone-milled from a named Korean variety such as Cheongyang or Taeyangcho — aged six months or longer in a traditional onggi crock.
02
Estate — Fresh jjokpa from a Korean greengrocer, good-quality saeujeot purchased from a Korean provisions shop, and coarse gochugaru of known provenance — fermented at least one week.
03
Market — Jjokpa from any Asian market, commercially packaged saeujeot, and standard Korean gochugaru — fermented to taste from same-day to several weeks.
04
House — Thin spring onions substituted for jjokpa, fish sauce replacing saeujeot, and any available Korean-style red pepper flakes — a workable result, but lacking the clean pungency and umami depth of the original.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Sight. The yangnyeom paste holds its shape when scooped and does not pool or run — the signal that salt concentration and texture are sufficient to cure the onions evenly.
◇Sight. Every sheaf is coated an even, deep red from root to tip with no bare white or green stalk visible.
◇Smell. At room temperature, the sealed container should begin to smell fermented — sour, savoury, and pungent — within one to two days; absence of this change indicates fermentation has not started.
◇Touch. A bundle squeezed gently yields without snapping but retains enough structure to lift from the container as a coherent sheaf — the test of readiness at any stage of fermentation.
◇Where it lives or dies. The yangnyeom paste must be thick and cohesive enough to cling to the whole stalk; a paste that pools runs to the bottom of the vessel and the onions above it ferment in a dry state, producing kimchi that is uneven in cure and flavour from top to bottom.
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VI
What to Pour
Plain steamed rice wine (makgeolli) — its mild acidity and gentle effervescence complement the concentrated savouriness of the kimchi without competing with the fermented pungency. A dry Korean soju served neat is equally appropriate alongside fatty accompaniments such as samgyeopsal.
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The working kitchen