Japanese-style pickled vegetables

Fiona Andersen

The art of preserving has been a bit of a revelation for me and, like most things in cooking, it’s definitely not new but it certainly seems like it at the time! You suddenly see such potential in food that previously you took for granted. No longer do you look at a glut of cucumbers or zucchini as a problem but rather as a delicious opportunity to be enjoyed or shared throughout the year.

Ingredients

500 ml	Water
500 ml	White vinegar, or cider vinegar
350 g	Caster sugar
2 pieces	Dried chillies, seeds removed
1 Tbsp	Peppercorns
3	Bay leaves
1 kg	Vegetables, mixture of sliced cabbage, peeled & sliced onion, washed & trimmed radishes, carrots cut into fine batons, finely-sliced cucumber (Main)
1 sprinkle	Salt

Directions

1. Place water, vinegar, sugar, chillies, peppercorn and bay leaves into a small pot and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and cool completely.
2. Sprinkle vegetables with table salt. Leave for 30 minutes then squeeze out excess water by hand.
3. Place vegetables in a container and cover with cooled pickling liquor. Leave overnight and use vegetables the next day. Pickled vegetables will keep for up to 3 weeks in the pickling liquor.