Have you ever had a “banh mi” sandwich or eaten any Asian dishes where they include pickled carrots or radish? The vegetables are crunchy. They are sweet yet sour. They are a perfect pairing to the salty banh mi deli meat, or the barbeque bulgogi, or the soy garlic fried chicken.
Being Asian myself, I find that having a jar of already pickled veggies in the fridge is essential, because it goes so well with almost every dish I make. But I searched for ways to do the pickling and it seemed time consuming. So I turned to the best resource I had…family. Of course why scour the internet for the recipe when you can ask someone who makes it all the time. A tried and tested recipe.
For awhile, I just asked my aunt in law for a jar of radish or carrots, or just hoped she would pack extra when she came for a visit. I mean it was easier this way, because she never said no. But seriously how hard could it be? I needed to be an adult and I had no excuse as I was a food blogger now and had my own cooking channel lol.
So thinking she was going to tell me this elaborate recipe, where I would need to go to the Asian grocery store and find ingredients I never heard of, she looked at me and said it was easy. Obviously as any cultural dishes go, there is never a written recipe. They all cook on taste and judgement. I mean, come on! But she broke it down to me and did it well.
Guess what? Two ingredients! Yes two! Sugar and vinegar. Now you can get different types of sugar and different types of vinegar. She prefers using rice wine vinegar, but I didn’t have any on hand. But I am going to make it basic and easy to remember. Just use regular granulated white sugar and distilled vinegar. Equal portions. That’s as basic as it will get, am I right? Done!
Grocery list:
32 ounce pickling jar or container
1 cup distilled white vinegar
1 cup granulated sugar
choice of pickled vegetable and cut into preferred pieces
- In a saucepan, heat up vinegar and sugar over low heat, until sugar slowly dissolves. Gradually stir and keep an eye on it, so it doesn’t boil or burn.
- Once the sugar dissolves, remove from heat and let the solution cool. Do not use if it’s still hot.
- Get your veggies cut and ready for pickling! Whatever you decide to go with, choose a cut that you want to eat. You can dice, slice, shred or cube. Whatever you prefer and however it will work with your meals best. Once you are done with that, then place it in your jar and try to pack it down.
- When the pickling juice cools, add it to the jar of veggies. Push veggies down into the juice and make sure to cover the veggies as best as you can with the juice. The veggies will soften and you will be able to pack them in better.
- Depending on the veggie and the cut you use, you will need to let it sit for a minimum of one hour and overnight if possible. The longer the jar sits the tastier it gets. The veggies should still be good up to 3 weeks in a tightly sealed jar in the fridge.
Enjoy it while it lasts! I like eating it with this soy lime chicken and rice dish! But comment and let me know what you would eat your pickled veggies with.
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