← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 300 g Napa (Chinese) cabbage, cut into 3 cm pieces
• 1 Cucumber, sliced into rounds
• 150 g Daikon radish, peeled, cut into thin quarter-moons
• ½ Carrot, cut into thin strips
• 2 tsp salt (about 2% of the vegetable weight)
• ½ tsp Sugar
• 1 piece kombu (about 3 x 6 cm), snipped into thin strips
• 1 small dried or fresh red chilli, sliced (optional)
• 1 strips of yuzu or lemon zest (optional)
• 1 tsp Sesame seeds (optional)

Method

1. Weigh your prepared vegetables; you want salt at about 2% of that weight, which is roughly 2 tsp for 600 g.
2. Put the vegetables in a large zip-lock bag with the salt, sugar, kombu and the chilli and zest if using. Shake and massage the bag for 1 minute, until the vegetables start to soften and release liquid.
3. Squeeze out the air, seal and lay the bag flat in a dish with something heavy on top, such as a few cans. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or overnight for a softer pickle.
4. Squeeze the vegetables to remove excess brine and taste. If they are too salty, rinse quickly in cold water and squeeze again.
5. Serve in small bowls with a pinch of sesame seeds, alongside rice and miso soup.

Tips

• Keep in the fridge and eat within 3 days, while they are still crisp.
• Turnip, radish, celery and cauliflower all work well.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Just One Cookbook Japanese Cooking 101 Pickled Plum