Taiwanese pickles - Sweet & sour cucumber
Click & Jump
Difficulty: simple
Health benefit: antioxidants & hydration from the cucumbers
Time: 10 - 15 minutes of preparation and overnight marination
Ingredients:
Cucumber: 5 (around 245g)
Sugar: 30g (adjustable)
White rice vinegar: 140g (adjustable)
Salt: 1/4 - 1/2 tp
Lime/lemon: 1 (optional)
Red chilli: 1-2 (optional)
Tips for choosing ingredients:
There are different types of cucumbers. You can use lebanese cucumber, Chinese cucumber and continental cucumber for this side dish. The key is to choose a cucumber that is straight, thin and hard. The thick cucumber means it contains a lot of water and can make the dish too watery and it is usually not as crunchy as think cucumber. The soft cucumber means it is not fresh.
I use raw sugar in this dish, but you can use other types of sugar that don’t have a strong flavour. If the sugar has a strong flavour, it may change the flavour of this dish.
I chose the big red chilli so it will not be too spicy. The smaller the chilli is, the more spicy it will be.
Step-by-step guidance:
1. Cut two ends of the cucumber away.
2. Slice cucumbers into 0.2 cm - 0.3 cm thick.
This thickness can ensure that sliced cucumbers still taste crunchy after marination. However, it is not recommended to make it thicker than 0.3 cm because the flavor will be hard to marinate throughout the cucumber. Nevertheless, if you do not want the cucumber to be crunchy, you can slice cucumbers into around 0.1 cm thick.
The thickness of the cucumber will affect the texture of the pickle so it is important.
If you have a food processor, this step can be completed in a few seconds. If you cut it manually, you can put several cucumbers together and cut them in once to save you time.
3. Slice the chilli into small pieces.
Chilli plays two roles in this side dish. One is for the flavour and the other is for the color. A bit of red chili in the green cucumber will make this sweet and sour cucumber look more attractive than just having the green cucumber itself.
If you slice chilli into thick pieces, the flavor of the chili cannot be fully released into the marination.
If you do not like it to be too spicy, you can remove some chili seeds when you slice them. The spicy taste mainly comes from the chili seeds. Vice versa, if you like spicy flavour, you can add more chilli.
4. Mix all sliced cucumber and chilli, white rice vinegar, sugar, salt, and lime juice. Mix everything well and make sure the sugar is dissolved.
You will note that all liquid covers around 2/3 of the sliced cucumbers and chilli. No worries, cucumber contains a lot of water itself and the water will diffuse out when you marinate the cucumbers.
If you do not have a juicer like me, you can slice lime/lemon into thinner pieces and it will be easy for you to squeeze the lime/lemon juice.
Lime juice can add a fresh flavour to the dish. However, if you do not have lime or lemon, you can skip it.
5. Put the sweet and sour cucumbers (pickles) into a clean and dry air-tight container and marinate them for at least a night. If you do not have air-tight container, you can put them is the bowl and use the cling wrap to keep it fresh as shown in the picture below.
The container or bowl must be clean and dry. Otherwise, the sweet and sour cucumber can go bad easily.
6. Next day: try a few pieces of pickle to adjust the flavour.
If it is too spicy for you, add more sugar and white rice vinegar.
If it is too sour for you, add more sugar and a bit of clean drink water.
When you adjust the flavour, you can taste a bit of marination to make sure the flavour matches your taste.
After adjustment, keep marinating it in the fridge for another 2 hours and it will be ready to serve.
Important tips for making this Taiwanese pickle:
Everyone has different tastes. The amount for each ingredient of this Taiwanese pickle is a good starting point for you to adjust the flavour according to your personal preference the next day.
I recommend finishing the pickle in 1 week. Nevertheless, it is also okay for you to keep it for 2 weeks.
The key to keeping the pickle fresh is to use clean and dry tools when taking it out from the bowl or container for serving.
A bit more story about this delicious Taiwanese pickle:
This is one of the classic Taiwanese pickles. It is a good match with a lot of cuisines with a heavier flavour. It makes you feel fresh when you have the heavy main dish. I will share more main dishes recipes that are good combination with this Taiwanese sweet and sour pickle.
I hope you enjoy this classic Taiwanese pickle. Feel free to share your experience about making this pickle in the below comment section.