Dongchimi (동치미)

What is Dongchimi?

Dongchimi (동치미) is white water-kimchi — whole small radishes fermented in a clear, unspiced brine with pear, ginger, and scallion until the liquid turns effervescent, tart, and cold-refreshing. There is no chili at all. The broth is drunk like a beverage, used as a naengmyeon base, and prized as a hangover remedy.

How to eat it

1. Drink the broth. Dongchimi is as much about the sparkling-sour liquid as the radish — sip it straight from your bowl with a spoon.
2. Eat the radish in slices. The fermented radish is served sliced; it should crunch loudly.
3. Use it as a chaser. Between bites of rich or oily food (jeon, tteok-galbi), dongchimi works like a palate-cleansing soda.

Cooking it at home

1. Salt small whole radishes overnight, then submerge in brine (roughly 1 tablespoon salt per liter of water) with Asian pear, ginger, garlic, and whole scallions.
2. Ferment at cool room temperature 2–3 days until the brine fizzes slightly, then refrigerate.
3. Serve icy cold — some homes float a few ice shards in the bowl.

Good to know

• One of the few kimchi types that is typically vegan (no fish sauce in most traditional recipes) — but confirm, as some households add salted shrimp.
• The fizz is natural carbonation from fermentation; cloudiness with off-smell, however, means it has turned.

Traditional winter naengmyeon in North Korean style was served in dongchimi broth — the modern beef-broth version came later.

Related foods

떡국 · TteokgukOften eaten together Sliced rice-cake soup — eat a bowl, turn a year older (New Year). 물냉면 · Mul NaengmyeonOften eaten together Buckwheat noodles in icy beef broth — the post-BBQ finisher. 호떡 · HotteokOften eaten together Griddled pancake with molten brown-sugar filling — winter street gold. 배추김치 · KimchiSpicier alternative Fermented napa cabbage — the one dish on every Korean table. 깍두기 · KkakdugiSpicier alternative Cubed radish kimchi — crunchy, juicy, born for gukbap.