My friend Amanda calls these pickles amazeballs. And I completely agree: these super easy to make pickles are truly delish. Like most Asian style pickles they are significantly sweeter than local, but the addition of spicy Thai peppers to the marinade perfectly balances out this sweetness.
Serve them as a side to satays or stirfried meats, as a salad ingredient or as a sandwich topping.
You will need:
- 6-9 Persian cucumbers, depending on the size (check Trader Joe’s or Asian supermarkets)
- About a quarter of red onion, sliced
- 1/2 cup table vinegar (you can use rice vinegar instead, but in this case take a bit less sugar)
- 1 cup water
- 4-5 TBsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp salt
- 3-4 fresh red Thai peppers (can be found fresh or frozen in Asian supermarkets or take dried instead)
Slice the cucumbers into circles no thicker than ½ inch and put into a container together with red onions. In a pot, combine all the marinade ingredients and bring to a boil. If using fresh chilies, cut them open lengthwise so that the heat from their interior can get into the marinade. If using dried, break each open.
Check the seasonings and add more sugar/salt/vinegar to your taste, if needed. Remove from the heat and let cool down to a room temp. Pour over the cukes. They should be almost fully submerged in the marinade. If they stick out just a bit, it’s OK – the sugar and salt will make them release water, they will shrink and become fully submerged quite soon.
Let sit in the fridge at least overnight.
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