.png)
Middle Eastern quick pickles
Pickles are a fantastic thing for downsizing – masses of flavour packed into low-calorie-dense veg – and delicious as part of a meze or in sabich. I couldn’t quite get my head around the idea that pickles were a middle eastern thing: they were so much associated with the pickled onions and Branston Pickle of my childhood – which I have just googled and it turns out is an excellent source of Selenium, Calcium, Vitamin K, Phosphorus and Vitamin C. That would have been useful information to present to my mother, who did not see my point about the merits of eating it with absolutely everything. I have the wonderful Diana Henry (How to Cook a Peach) to thank for putting me right, and this is substantially her recipe. Use whatever veg you have lurking in your fridge – onion; carrot; cauliflower; radish; cabbage; chilli.
- About 800g vegetables
- 3 teaspoons caraway seeds
- 2 teaspoons black peppercorns
- 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
- 800ml red wine vinegar
- 500ml water
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon salt flakes
- A couple of thyme sprigs
- A tablespoon of chilli flakes
- 5 cloves of garlic
- Give the spices a light bruising in a pestle and mortar.
- Put the vinegar and water in a saucepan with the spices, salt and sugar. Bring slowly to the boil to give the salt and sugar time to dissolve. Leave to cool.
Preparing the vegetables:
- Peel and diagonally slice carrots.
- Top and tail radishes, and quarter lengthways.
- Cut onions into thin wedges.
- Cut red or white cabbage into small chunks.
- Break and cut cauliflower into small florets.
- Very finely slice the garlic and any chilli.
Put the vegetables into clean jars and cover with the vinegar and spices.
Ideally, you would leave them at room temperature for a couple of days before refrigerating, but if like me, you have left things till the last minute, they taste pretty good if you use them almost immediately. They keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge.
Diva notes.
Make sure your jars do not taste of dishwasher tabs: pickled Finish is unlikely to prove a hit. Exactly why makers of dishtabs make them so that they infuse things with their smell is one of life’s mysteries.
Downsizing tip:
Eat the veg, don't drink the vinegar – it's full of sugar.
Sign up for new recipes, tips, and downsizing stories.
