the humble pickle…

The Humble Pickle…

This recipe is a quick pickle, great for salads, mezze boards, fancy toast, or poke bowls. Adaptable to a variety of vegetables and so quick and easy.

Ingredients:

Vegetable choices: Radish, Cucumber, Wombok, carrot, Daikon, fennel - by themselves or mixed.

Note: it all comes down to cut of your vegetable, enabling it to suck in the pickle whilst still leaving some of the crunch and texture of the veg. Examples: Cucumber - sliced, radish - sliced, carrot - julienne or long thin strips, Daikon Julliene, long thin strips or sliced, Wombok - use the thick part from half way down, Fennel- sliced.

Sushi Seasoning - this is my secret its a good base as it has the sweet and vinegar combined in one.

Mirin- to add the sweet element

salt - lightly coat the veg

Lemon/lime or white wine vinegar- add at the end for balance

aromatics: fennel seeds, mustard seeds, chili, fennel fronds, dill, you can choose to mix or go with a single flavour profile its up to you.

Method:

depending on how much pickle you are making will depend on quantities. I like to use my bowl as my guide. As you want the vegetable to be only half submerged.

Lightly salt your veg and leave sit for 10 minutes

To a small bowl add 2/3 Cup of sushi seasoning, 1/3 cup of Mirin and your chosen aromatics.

Add your salted veg and mix, leave sit for 5 minutes and mix through again. quite often this will be all you need in your pickle as the salt will balance the pickle, to check balance taste- if too sweet at 2 tbs white wine vinegar or half a small lemon, mix and taste, if too sharp add a splash of mirin. You want your pickle to have equal notes of sharp, sweet and salt. Continue to stir through the veg every 5 minutes until at your desired crunch / soft texture. I would suggest a minimum of half an hour in the mixture up to 2 hours. This can be stored in a jar and you can use the pickle juice in other pickles down the track.

ENJOY! x