Richard Hsiao’s Pickles
Such a moreish, drippy, messy snack or the perfect sharp and crunchy addition to a sandwich.This is more of a marinated cucumber salad so it doesn't need to be kept in a jar in the fridge (and the jar can be any size).
Servings: 1 jar
Ingredients
- 1 cucumber
- 3 cloves of garlic
- ½ tsp salt
- 75 ml flavourless oil
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- ¼ tsp sichuan peppercorns
- ½ tsp Korean pepper
- 2 slices of fresh ginger
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp rice wine vinegar
- A pinch of MSG available at Asian supermarkets
Instructions
- Wash and slice the cucumber into rounds then pop them in a colander. Thinly slice the garlic. Sprinkle the cucumber slices with salt and toss them and the garlic all together. Place the colander on a plate to catch the cucumber juice, then leave it for about 1 hour.
- When you come back there'll be a little puddle of green liquid on the plate, and if you squeeze the cucumbers they will be soooo juicy. It's very pleasing to squeeze them. Squeeze out some stress; you won't get all the liquid out but do what you can/can be bothered to do.
- Heat the oils in a frying pan until hot, then remove from the heat and add the Sichuan peppercorns and Korean pepper. Leave to cool slightly.
- Put the cucumbers in a bowl. Pour over the cooled oil. Mix together the ginger, soy sauce, sugar, rice wine vinegar and MSG, and add to the cucumbers. Toss everything together then gently tip everything into a clean and sterilised jar. Seal and leave to marinate overnight. Keep out of the fridge.
Notes
If you like a bit of heat, the original recipe includes dried chillies cooked in the oils. I excluded them because my heat tolerance is known to be pathetic.