August 29, 2013

Chinese Pickled Radish 醃櫻桃蘿蔔

chinese, pickled, pickles recipe, pink pickle, radish, recipe, vegetable, 醃櫻桃, 蘿蔔

I think we have been going a bit pickle crazy recently.  But how can you resist the urge to pickle?  Once you get started and see for yourself how easy and delightfully yummy your own homemade pickles are?  We have made Chinese Pickles  酸瓜 and Chinese Hua Gua Pickles 花瓜 and they are sitting pretty in our little fridge.  Homemade jars of pickle are so gorgeous!  I like to take them out just to admire them.  

The other day I happened upon some cherry radishes lying around and I made this easy Chinese Pickled Radish 醃櫻桃蘿蔔.  Now we also have a beautiful jar of pickled radish in the fridge that we can dip into any time for a tart, crunchy, slightly spicy snack.  And it's a PINK PICKLE! How cool is that?!  My little girl definitely thinks it's super cool.  

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So start keeping all those nice glass jars that you use to throw away and fill em up with your homemade radish pickles.  You can be creative and add lots of things into the mix like ginger, or chilis, or spices that you think will enhance the flavor of your luscious pink pickle.  

To prepare the jar for pickles, wash, then fill jar and cap up with boiling water.  Let sit for 5 minutes and pour out the hot water.  Or you could just cook the whole thing in boiling water but I find it easier to just pour.

chinese, pickled, pickles recipe, pink pickle, radish, recipe, vegetable, 醃櫻桃, 蘿蔔

chinese, pickled, pickles recipe, pink pickle, radish, recipe, vegetable, 醃櫻桃, 蘿蔔

If we have a chinese style family dinner (ie. three or four dishes plus steamed rice) we will usually put out a small dish or two of pickles too.  A bit of tartness is always a refreshing counterpoint during a meal and it will help with digestion.  Especially during the hot summer months.  

This Chinese Radish Pickle will improve with age, just keep it in the fridge and make sure to use clean dry chopsticks to scoop the pickles out each time.  Should keep for up to a month in the fridge.
Chinese Pickled Radish Recipe
醃櫻桃蘿蔔
Prep time: 30 mins  Cook time: 0 mins

Ingredients:

  • 15- 20 cherry radishes
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 clove garlic, smashed
  • 2 slices ginger
  • 3/4 cup rice vinegar
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 jar

Directions:

Wash your radishes.  Chop off the end bits and slice very thin slices.  Put in colander and add salt.  Toss and let drain for 1/2 hour.

Arrange ginger, garlic and drained radishes in your jar.

Heat vinegar and water to simmer.  Add sugar and stir till melted.  Pour this hot mixture carefully into the jar until all radishes are covered.  When cool, put on the lid and refrigerate.  Your pink radish pickle will be ready the next day!

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4 comments:

  1. Thank you for the recipe! One quick question: Do you rinse off the salt from the radish or leave it on?

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    Replies
    1. No need to wash salt off as most of it will wash off with the juices that extrude from the radish due to the salting ~ellen

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  2. Have you tried making it without sugar?

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  3. Hey there - making these pickles without sugar is a whole other type of pickling known as brining, ie fermentation with salt water. Check out how to do it here: https://www.thehongkongcookery.com/2021/08/chinese-pickled-vegetables.html. Brined pickles are really tasty and chock full of goodness for you. Let me know if you try it out! ~ellen

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