Hi there
Do you like pickles? I like all kinds of pickles and especially come Chinese New Year, I am always looking forward to the many jars of archar in my fridge sitting oh so comfortably. 🙂
Archar although can be high in sodium, it does has its benefits too. As you do not cook the archar, the nutrients are preserved which include the antioxidants. Of course vinegar used is suppose to increase metabolism and also prevent the blood sugar from acting up, that is you will get less energy slumps and also cravings for the chocolate bar which is sitting at your desk.
I have this very simple and tasty pickle recipes which you can try it at home. It is great to plate it up during your get together as it is so colorful and tasty 🙂
Ingredients are pretty simple, basically it down to 2 portions.
(A) Preparation of the chilli paste
(B) Preparation of the vegetables that goes into the pickles
(A) Prepare of the Chilli Paste
- Buah Kaluck (candlenuts) x 2 – 3
- Shallot x 5 – 6
- Garic x 3 cloves
- Blue ginger – 1 cm slice
- Lemon grass stalk – 1 stalk
- Chilli paste (2 fresh chillies & 5 dried chillies, all deseeded)
Use a blender , put in buah kaluck, garlic, shallot, blue ginger, lemon grass , a bit of oil and water .
Fry the above and add chilli paste. Mix them well under low fire.
(B)Separately, pound dried shrimp and fry still fragrant with a bit of oil.
- Carrot
- Cucumber (not the Japanese cucumber)
- Green Chillies
- Cabbage (not the round from China) preferably from the australia as it is crunchy.
Above depends on how much you wish to make, cucumber is best to be more than the other vegetables. Cut them in bite size (see picture)
Add salt on to the vegetables and wait for 15 mins . After 15 mins. put the cucumber on the cloth-bag or any large cloth and squeeze out the water and then lay them on the plate and place under the sun. Do so for the other vegetables
Meanwhile pour vinegar into a claypot or corningware (do not use aluminium or stainless steel pot) add white sugar and slow fire and boil up.
Once cooled add dried shrimp to (B),crushed peanuts, fried sesame seed and the paste (A)
Then add all the dried vegetables. Mixed them well and fill them up in glass containers
Impt to note:
(a) Vinegar must be cooled down first.
(b) Vegetables must be thoroughly dried at least 3 hours of sun. (use fan if it rains)
(c) no pineapple. Best use carrot,cabbage and cucumber only, because pineapple gives out a lot liquid which means you won’t be able to store it for long.
Happy cooking!
QUICK & SIMPLE CHINESE NEW YEAR RECIPES : ARCHAR OR SPICY VEGETABLES PICKLES RECIPES
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Cheers
Dawn