Varieties
Dongchimi
동치미
Radish in a clear cold brine, no chilli at all. The liquid is the point.
- Main vegetable
- Korean radish
- Season
- Winter
- Chilli
- None at all
- Best at
- Ripe
Radish left in a clear, lightly salted brine with pear, garlic and sometimes a single split chilli for aroma rather than heat. No gochugaru at all.
The liquid is not a by-product — it is the dish. Cold dongchimi brine is drunk on its own, and it is the traditional base for naengmyeon, the cold buckwheat noodles eaten in the middle of a Korean winter.
If you have only met kimchi as a red, aggressive thing, dongchimi will rearrange what you think the word covers.