Saturday, August 30, 2014

Vegetable Pickle

"In Quite A Pickle", our theme for this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC). I love pickles! Found this recipe in Nigel Slater's book "The Kitchen Diaries II", which he entered on November 26, page 463. He made this pickle for a pork sandwich which he has included in the recipe as well. But I'm only giving the pickle recipe since I did not cook the filling for the sandwich.

For this recipe, Nigel has given a rough amount of each ingredient, so adjust accordingly.

Firstly, the brine is made by heating the rice vinegar and sugar till the sugar melts. He mentioned that he uses a small wineglass of vinegar and equal amount of caster sugar. I do not know how big is "a small wineglass", and since I've used a medium size each of carrot, daikon (to replace the radishes) and cucumber (remove the soft centre core), I used half a cup of rice vinegar and caster sugar. Then 4 slices of fresh ginger and 2 star anise are added in, together with some fish sauce to taste. Take the pan off the heat, and I poured the brine into a heatproof casserole bowl.


Put all the vegetables in the bowl, mix to combine. I could not help adding 2 small red chillies from my chilli plant which is heavily fruiting right now. Besides, I love a little spiciness for pickles like this. Chop the chillies and add to the veggies. According to Nigel, "After an hour in the mixture, they have become crunchy. Two hours and they are full of zingy bite and refreshing crispness".  Now whenever I make pickles, I would place them right in the refrigerator,  for a couple of hours or overnight before eating, where they will become really crisp and still maintain their crispiness even for days. So instead of leaving the bowl  of pickles on the kitchen counter, I have placed it in the refrigerator.


About 4 hours later, I ate the first piece, then the second, then the third....!!!  Oh my! These are so delicious and addictive. You would not stop at just a few pieces. The veggies are so crunchy, sweet, sour and slightly spicy from the red chillies, especially delicious when eaten cold, straight from the refrigerator. These would be great to accompany any roasted meat or sandwiches, though I ate them as a snack! I would definitely make this again! 


Vegetable Pickles
(adapted from "The Kitchen Diaries II", Nigel Slater)
"This morning I make fresh, hot vegetable pickles. I thinly slice a raw carrot, 4 radishes and a quarter of a cucumber. I bring to the boil a small wineglass of rice wine vinegar and the same of caster sugar. In go 4 slices of raw ginger and 2 star anise. I then add enough Vietnamese fish sauce to make it interesting, about 2 tablespoons (everyone's tolerance to fish sauce is different; keep tasting as you go), put in the vegetables and let the mixture cool. After an hour in the mixture, they have become  crunchy. Two hours and they are full of zingy bite and refreshing crispness."

This is what I used :
1 medium carrot
1 medium daikon
1 medium cucumber
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup caster sugar
3 tbsps fish sauce
2 star anise
4 slices ginger

I'm linking this post with I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), theme for this week "In Quite A Pickle"

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17 comments:

  1. Looks very crunchy and appetizing!

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  2. Looks good, crisp and colorful!

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  3. Joyce! It looks so appetizing. Yes. I'm sure the veggies are delicious and addictive.

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  4. You know it has taken me all of this time to realize that Notes From the Larder is the U.S. version of The Kitchen Diaries. Silly me! I made the same pickle recipe and did make the sandwich too--only a meat-free version. You are right the pickled veggies are addictive. I made extra and now I want more! I cut mine to layer on the sandwich better but I love your pretty bowl of slices. ;-)

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  5. Very unique and delicious looking veggie pickles, Joyce! I think I would enjoy these very much!

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  6. Good morning Joyce ! Yes I agree with you that the veggie pickles crunchy, appetizing and addictive as I have made something similar but more spicy version Achar.

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  7. Hi Joyce!, love a well made pickle!! this looks lovely with all the crunchy veges :)

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  8. This sounds good indeed! I think would be great to pickle unripe papaya too! Just thinking of it makes me salivate!

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  9. Hi Joyce!
    Look at you, you made a vegetable pickle that looks might colorful and crunchy good! Good guess on the small wineglass measurement. If memory serves me correctly, I have quite an assortment of cookbooks that use measurements like "a walnut size amount of butter" or a tea cup full of so and so." I believe a small wineglass make equal about 2 ounces give little, take a little since it is a pickle recipe, lol...

    Thanks so much for sharing, Joyce...Lucky you to have a bountiful Chili plant!

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  10. This looks and sounds fabulous! I would eat these pickled vegetables until they were all gone. Delicious. A perfect addition to asummer meal.

    Velva

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  11. I adore pickles and will definitely be making these!

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  12. These look wonderful, Joyce. I'm loving the flavourings of star anise and fish sauce in these, and your added bonus of a bit of chilli :-) I imagine the vegetables take on wonderful flavour from all that - just love that sweet, hot, spicy combo going on. I've been enjoying the pickled vegetables that I made, and I can imagine these ones would be very addictive. The perfect snack.

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  13. Joyce, I always love pickles and this really looks good!

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  14. Joyce, I love pickles! And I can eat them just like that as a snack :)

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  15. Beautiful flavored salad. I would love to grab that bowl any time of the day.

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  16. Such a pretty bowl of pickles Joyce! And such unusual flavours, particularly the fish sauce. I'm intrigued!

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