Quick Pickled Bok Choy

Our weekly veggie boxes lately have been coming with a LOT of bok choy and I was at a bit of a loss when trying to figure out how to use it all. I'm not that much into bok choy, but had this thought one day that I could pickle it. I figured somebody must have done it before because everything is on the internet right? But when I did a quick search, apparently not. So I made up a quick pickle and gave it a go. It turned out so good that I pickle the bok choy straight from the veggie box every week. I can't tell you how long they'll last you in the fridge or cupboard, though. They don't last long in my house because my kids eat them straight out of the jar.

It's a very straightforward pickle. I used a warm pickle instead of hot because I didn't want the bok choy to get too "cooked", so it would retain it's nice crunch. Add any flavours you like - chilli, ginger, garlic, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves. Our favourite variety is the ginger ones.

I use these pickles inside rice paper rolls, with Asian salads or noodle dishes. They add a lovely fresh crunch to a sweet/sticky tofu dish.

Now I just need to figure out what to do with all the leaves? I add them into other dishes in small amounts but can't seem to use them up in the quantity that I have them! Suggestions welcome :)



Ingredients:
2-3 bok choy, stems only
1 cup, boiling hot water
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar (you could also use white wine vinegar or rice vingear)
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt


Additional flavours (optional): chilli, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves. 

To Make:
1. Wash bok choy stems and cut into sticks. Put into a clean jar (pack them in tight because they shrink as they pickle).
2. Combine the boiling water with the sugar until dissolved and then add the apple cider vinegar and salt. 
3. Pour into the jar over the bok choy. If the quantity isn't quite enough you can top up with a little more vinegar and water to fill up the jar.
4. Put the lid on and store in the fridge overnight.

Makes approximately 1 x 500ml jar. 

Salsa Verde Potato Salad (otherwise known as Green Potatoes)

Around the holiday season you find yourself often in the position of being asked to "bring a dish" to any number of events. Potato salad is a classic, but give the tired old mayonnaise dressing a miss and try out this fresh and tangy salsa verde.

Ingredients

1kg chat potatoes

1 bunch parsley

1 tbsp capers

1 dill pickle, roughly chopped

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tsp red wine vinegar

3 tbsp olive oil

2-3 shallots, chopped (scallions)

To Make

1. Bring a large pot of water to the boil and add the potatoes. Simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife. Drain and set aside.

2. Combine the parsley, capers, pickle, lemon juice, vinegar and 2 tbsp olive oil in a food processor. Process until you get to your desired consistency. You can either leave it a bit chunky (like a traditional salsa verde) or continue until it's smooth. 

3. Cut any of the larger potatoes in half, if desired. Stir through the dressing. Sprinkle with chopped shallots (scallions) and drizzle with the remaining olive oil. There is no need to add salt, as the capers are quite salty already. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Serves 6.

German Potato Salad

I have mixed feelings about potato salad, I'm not much a fan of the overly creamy mayonnaise based potato salads. This salad, on the other hand - is out of this world. I could sit down with a big bowl of this salad every night of the week and never get sick of it. Sometimes simple things are simply the best, and I believe that pickles and potatoes are a match made in heaven. In salad, in soup, or in gorgeous Croatian pogaca - I will never tire of this ingredient combination.

This is a very simple and elegant recipe, but it was one of my favourite ones from the whole German month. No kidding, just make it ok?

Ingredients

6 large waxy potatoes (such as desire)

1 tsp vegetable stock powder (or 1 cube if you buy them in cubes)

1/2 cup boiling hot water

2 dill pickles

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

2 tbsp olive oil

2-3 shallots (scallions), chopped (white and green parts)

Salt and pepper to taste

To Make

1. Peel the potatoes and chop into large chunks. Cover with water and boil until just tender. Drain and place in a bowl.

2. Dissolve the stock powder in the 1/2 cup of water. Pour over the hot potatoes.

3. Dice the pickles and add to the bowl of potatoes with the olive oil and vinegar, stir through gently. Set aside to cool.

4. Once cooled to room temperature stir through the shallots and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature.

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing recipes from Germany!

Check out my other German recipe posts:

German Apple Pancakes

Rohkostsalat (Cabbage and Fruit Salad)

Deconstructed Black Forest Cake Parfait

Rosenkohl in Bier (Brussels Sprouts in Beer)

Zwiebelkuchen (German Onion Pie)

Frankfurter Kranz (Bundt Cake Layered with Cherry Jam & Rum Buttercream)

Kaiserschmarrn (Torn Pancakes with Apple)

Rote (und grün) Grütze (German Fruit Jelly)

Torshi-havij (Persian Pickled Carrots)

If you read this blog much then you'll have read how excited I was when I made home made Sugar-Pickled Garlic as part of Iran month. Well - good news! The excitement doesn't stop there because I also made some other pickles! Iranian and other Middle Eastern cuisines love their pickles. I remember the first time I went to a proper Lebanese restaurant and they brought out bread, hummous, baba ghanoush and garlic dip as soon as we sat down. Then they brought out this strange small dish of brightly coloured "things". I had no idea what they were until my Lebanese companions told me they were pickled turnips, radishes and cucumbers.

Like Lebanese cuisine, Iranian cuisine includes a plethora of different pickled vegetables - pickled cucumbers, pickled cauliflower, pickled eggplant, pickled garlic, pickled onions and pickled carrots (read that list aloud really quickly and the word 'pickled' starts to sound really strange!). Although I was tempted to try all these I limited myself to two - pickled garlic and pickled carrots. Both of which I served up to my guests at my Iranian feast as part of the mokhalafat (accompaniments).

These pickled carrots (torshi-havajii) went down really well with my guests (not to mention the fact that they were amazed that I made my own pickles!) and the word that was being bandied about the table as they ate them was "zingy". That describes them pretty well! One of my guests even said it felt like a carbonated drink in her mouth. They're quite strong so I recommend serving them as a side dish with a meal  - but be warned, they will made your meal incredibly special and very zingy :)

Ingredients

1 bunch baby carrots, trimmed and washed (about 100g)

5 cloves fresh garlic, peeled

1/2 tsp dried mint

15-20 black peppercorns

1/2 tsp salt
White wine vinegar (quantity will vary depending on the size of the jar you use)

To Make
1. Wash the carrots well (there is no need to peel them, but you can if you want to) and boil for about 3 minutes in boiling water. Remove from the water and allow to cool.
2. Once the carrots are cooled, place them in a jar with a good lid or seal. As you can see from my pics I used a wide preserving jar for mine, but I think it would be better to use a tall and thin jar so that you can stand the carrots up in it without needing to use so much vinegar.
3. Grate the garlic coarsely and add to the carrots in the jar. Add all other ingredients (except the vinegar).
4. Add enough white wine vinegar to the jar to cover the carrots completely. Put the lid on and store in the fridge for at least 3 weeks.

Makes 1 jar.

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing Iranian recipes!

Check out my other Iranian recipe posts:

Persian Carrot and Rose Jam

Artichoke and Pine Nut Dolma

Vegan Yakh Dar Behesht (Ice in Heaven)

Iranian Sugar-pickled Garlic

Sholeh Zard (Rice & Rosewater Pudding)

Salad-e Shirazi

Naaz Khatoon (Eggplant with Pomegranate Molasses)

Mokhalafat (Traditional Accompaniments) 

Iranian Sugar-Pickled Garlic

At the end of last month, when I announced that I would be featuring Iranian recipes all this month in this post, I hinted that you might be seeing something very garlicy from me - well here it is! Sugar pickled whole garlic cloves. You might be thinking that this just sounds a bit too overpowering and strong, but you'll just have to trust me (and all my dinner guests who loved this) when I tell you that it was amazing!

As a cook, I constantly reach little milestones of the development of my skills (I'm sure other cooks are alike),  these are mostly about doing things for the first time by hand (instead of buying things in jars, tins and packets from the supermarket). Things like making my own jam, making my own home made pasta (and then home made ravioli!), making my own pesto varieties or making my own infused spirits! All of these have been small milestones in my development as a cook and here is another one: making my own pickled vegetables!


This Iranian pickled garlic recipe was a great introduction, as it was very easy and didn't need to be stored for a long amount of time (as the garlic was cooked). This allowed me to prepare it in time to post as part of this month's Iranian recipes.

I served this pickled garlic and my torshi-havaj (recipe to come later!) to my dinner guests as part of mokhalafat (traditional Iranian table accompaniments) and it went down so well with my guests that some of them went so far as to say that it was their favourite dish of the night!

What is your favourite pickled vegetable?

Sugar Pickled Garlic

Adapted from www.food.com

Ingredients
3 whole heads of garlic
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup water
8 whole cloves
20 black peppercorns
1/2 tsp salt

To Make
1. Peel all the garlic cloves (I know! This is a pain but worth it!).
2. Place peeled garlic cloves with all other ingredients in a small saucepan. Place over a medium heat.
3. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.
4. Remove lid and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
5. Transfer to a glass jar with a tight lid and store in the fridge for at least 3 weeks before serving (1-2 months optimum).

Serve as an accompaniment, add to wraps and salads, add to a cheese platter or antipasto platter.

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing Iranian recipes!

Check out my other Iranian recipe posts:

Persian Carrot and Rose Jam

Artichoke and Pine Nut Dolma

Vegan Yakh Dar Behesht (Ice in Heaven)

Sholeh Zard (Rice & Rosewater Pudding)

Salad-e Shirazi

Naaz Khatoon (Eggplant with Pomegranate Molasses)

Torshi-havij (Pickled Baby Carrots)

Mokhalafat (Traditional Accompaniments)