Achar (Nyonya Vegetable Pickle)
Achar is the world's best pickle! It's sweet, sour, spicy and aromatic, all at the same time. No other pickle comes close! This recipe uses four types of veggies: cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, cucumber. White radish, big chillies and underripe pineapple would be nice too. The most important thing in achar is the pickling liquid. It's made with sambal and freshly ground peanuts. The pickle is sprinkled with sesame seeds and more peanuts just before serving. I could eat my homemade achar every day!
- Prep time
- 30 min
- Cook time
- 10 min
- Yield
- 24 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
- 180 g shallots (18 pieces) – peel and wash
- 1 pc turmeric small thumb-size – wash
- 1 pc ginger thumb-size – wash
- 3 red chillies – wash
- 4 tbsp chilli powder
- 2 tbsp water
- 1/2 cup corn oil
- 1 cup white rice vinegar
- 11/2 cup water
- 400 g sugar
- 2 cup water
- 2 cup white rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 kg cauliflower – wash and cut bite-size
- 150 g carrots – wash, peel and into thin batons
- 300 g cabbage – wash and cut bite-size
- 1 kg cucumber – wash and cut into batons
- 3 tbsp salt
- 300 g peanuts
- 3 tbsp white sesame seeds
Instructions
- 1
Grind finely shallots, turmeric, ginger, chillies, chilli powder and water to make spice paste.
- 2
In a non-reactive pan/wok, stir-fry spice paste in hot oil over medium heat till fragrant and colour darkens, about 10 minutes.
- 3
Add vinegar, water, and sugar to spice paste. Bring to a gentle boil. Simmer gently for 1 minute, covered. Turn off heat. Uncover and leave till cool.
- 4
Bring water, vinegar, sugar and salt to a rapid boil in a big pot over high heat.
- 5
Briefly blanch cauliflower, carrots and cabbage in batches. (Do not blanch cucumber.) After blanching each batch, liquid should come back to a boil before blanching another batch. Spread out blanched vegetables to cool on large trays.
- 6
Sprinkle cucumber with salt. Mix well. Leave to sweat for 30 minutes. Rinse, drain, and pat dry with kitchen towels.
- 7
Roast peanuts in 180ºC oven till lightly brown, about 15 minutes depending on size of peanuts. Remove from oven. Cool on wire rack. Remove peel. Chop roughly. Transfer ⅓ to airtight bottle or refrigerate.
- 8
Roast sesame seeds in 180ºC oven till lightly brown, 4-5 minutes. Remove from oven. Leave till cool. Transfer to airtight bottle or refrigerate.
- 9
In a non-reactive bowl, thoroughly mix veggies, pickling liquid, and ⅔ of ground peanuts. Pickling liquid should cover around 70% of vegetables at this stage. (Amount of liquid will increase during pickling.)
- 10
Place achar in fridge, covered. Stir now and then to mix everything thoroughly during first 12 hours.
- 11
After 12 hours, taste and if necessary adjust seasoning. It should taste a bit spicier and sourer than how you'd like it. Flavours will be rounder and less sharp in another 24 hours.Pickle may be served after marinating for 24 hours (36 hours would be better but I usually can't wait that long). It's best the first few days. May be stored refrigerated for up to 1 month.
- 12
To serve, transfer pickle with a slotted spoon to serving plate, without pickling liquid. Top with sesame seeds and remaining peanuts.