Traditional pickled radish

There's been nearly three months since I came to Toronto and I missed my family and friends so much. Thus I decided to make a pickled radish which in a traditional way of my hometown, China. Actually this recipe is from my mom and which makes me miss her more, the taste I used to have.

Chinese pickles or Chinese preserved vegetables consists of various vegetables or fruits, which have been fermented by pickling with salt and brine (鹹菜) or marinated in mixtures based on soy sauce or savory bean pastes (醬菜). The former is usually done using high-fiber vegetables and fruits, such as Chinese cabbage, carrot, apple and pineapple, while the latter marinated group is made using a wide variety of vegetables, ranging from mustards and cucumbers to winter melon and radishes. There are more than 130 kinds of pickles as for now.(Chen, Gong (2010). "The History and Development of Chinese Pickles". Food and Fermentation Technology 46 (3). )

Chinese pickles have a long history. Back to 1100, Chou dynasty, the word “pickle”, “tsu” in Chinese, means, “salt and incubate”. The first preserved food is the fermentedmeat mixes with salt and it sometimes mixes with wine and mold. The pickle we refer to today, the pickled vegetables and fruit, practice in common back to sixth century. The most important reason for ancient people to make pickle is to preserve vegetables and fruit because they can preserve for a few months even a few years. People make pickles in the harvest time of vegetables so they can eat them in other time of the year.

Chinese pickles all need to balance the flavors of sweet, sour, pungent, salt, bitter and savory. [2]There are also spicy pickles with floral notes, such as the Szechuan pepper. However, most Chinese pickles still aim for a balance between the tastes of vinegar, salt, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, hot chili, sugar, and the vegetable or fruit itself.[2] Most pickles need to wait for a few months for the vegetables and fruit to ferment. There are also "quickles" -- a portmanteau of "quick" and "pickles" -- that people can eat them after a few hours or a few days. Cucumber pickles, for example, may be eaten after they have been pickled in a jar for three hours. (Solomon, Karen (2013). Pickles: China. New York: Ten Speed Press.ISBN 9781607744801. )

This is a simply recipe filled with love and memory, Pickled radish with black rice vinegar. And it calls 酸萝卜 or 腌萝卜 in Chinese.

Yield, Portions:

Radish 1 item

chilli 5 g

black rice vinegar 200 ml

crystal sugar 50 g

salt

1. Take a fresh radish, wash and then peel it.

2. To make it tasty, cut the radish into thin semi-circular slices.

3. Due to the reason that radish contains a large amount of water inside, we can add some salt on it to make it dry. Place approximately two teaspoon for each bowl and keep still for about 45 minutes until you can see the water from the raddish comes out. Drain well.

4. Dice chilli, pour black rice vinegar into the bowl until the radishes are covered, place chilli and crystal sugar. Keep in the fridge for at least 5 hours.

After one night's pickling, the radish is ready to be tasted!

Before I taste the slice radishes, I can smell an appetizing smell because of the vinegar. And of course it looks absolutely stomachal for me as well. You can see the dark brown colour from the vinegar is absorbed by the radishes. Take one slice, I can sense the crisp and sour flavor first, and then the spicy makes my tongue a bit feeling of numbness but can still enjoy the food.

In this recipe, I use black rice vinegar instead of western normal vinegar. From my point of view, Chinese vinegar is more mild and sweet and the most importantly, it's a tradition method. Althought it's less sour compaire with the white vinegar, it can still work with some sugar to enrich the flavor.

Here is a short background of black rice vinegar.

Black rice vinegar is very popular in southern China. Chinkiang Vinegar, which originated in the city of Zhenjiang (Chinese: 镇江香醋; pinyin: Zhènjiāng xiāngcǜ) in the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu, is considered the best of the black rice vinegars. Normally black rice vinegar is made with black glutinous rice (also called "sweet rice"), although millet or sorghum may be used instead. It is dark in colour, and has a deep, almost smoky flavour. In addition to Zhenjiang, it is also produced in Hong Kong. (DK Publishing (2010). "Oils, Vinegars, and Flavorings: Vinegars". The Illustrated Cook's Book of Ingredients. New York: DK Publishing. p. 516. ISBN 9780756667306. Retrieved March 21, 2012.)

References

1. Chen, Gong (2010). "The History and Development of Chinese Pickles". Food and Fermentation Technology 46 (3).

2. Solomon, Karen (2013). Pickles: China. New York: Ten Speed Press. ISBN 9781607744801.

3. DK Publishing (2010). "Oils, Vinegars, and Flavorings: Vinegars". The Illustrated Cook's Book of Ingredients. New York: DK Publishing. p. 516. ISBN 9780756667306. Retrieved March 21, 2012.