Start by preparing the radishes. Keep the greens attached while peeling them, removing any dead leaves. Cut the radishes in half lengthwise and split the greens carefully, keeping them attached.

Place in a large bowl, rinse a few times, then fill the bowl with cold water and add salt. Let soak for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes turn the radishes over and let sit another 30 minutes in the salted water. Wash the radishes thoroughly about 4-5 times to remove any dirt and excess salt, and drain in a colander.

Next make the “porridge” for the kimchi paste by mixing flour with 2 cups water in a pot and heating over a medium heat. Keep stirring until it thickens as when making gravy. When you see some bubbles, add sugar and stir for another minute before removing from the heat.

Let cool.

Combine garlic and onion with the stalks of 5 green onions. Set aside.

Put the now-cooled porridge in a large mixing bowl and add the minced garlic and onion, hot pepper flakes, fish sauce, and the chopped green onions. Mix well.

(You can substitute soy sauce for the fish sauce and calm the hot factor by adding either less hot pepper flakes or use a milder type dry pepper flake such as jalapeño or a plain sweet pepper flake.)

Add the radishes and mix well with your hands. Be sure to use rubber gloves during this process and handle the radishes very delicately.

Take out the radishes one by one, placing two halves back together again and carefully wrap them with the still-attached greens, setting them in a shallow pan. Done!

When they are finished you can eat them right away or wait a day and ferment them. To ferment them, transfer the kimchi to a glass jar or a plastic container and keep it at room temperature for a day or two depending on the temperature (one day in hot weather or two days in cold), scooping some kimchi juice from the bottom of the container onto the top so that the top layer won’t dry out. Be sure to keep them refrigerated once fermenting is complete.