Salt Pickled Vegetables

This recipe is super easy but makes great tasting vegetables to snack on and that fit perfectly with sparkling sake. We recommend any sake in the Light & Dry category or even something slightly more aromatic such as the Hanzo Junmai Daiginjo 'Kami No Ho'.

Ingredients

• Salt
• Water
• Kombu
• Chile (optional)
• Vegetables as you’d like: carrots, cauliflower, eggplant, daikon (radish), cabbage, cucumbers are all good options

Instructions

The ratio of water to salt is the same as for the brine for our Herb-Butter Roasted Chicken, 30g of salt to 1 litre of water, but feel free to play around and use more or less depending on your taste and length of pickling time.

Combine salt, water, a small piece of kombu and optionally chili in a sealable container, such as a glass with screw top. Add the vegetables of your choice, making sure they are submerged, and keep in the fridge for anywhere between 8 hours to a few days.

Note that you can also keep these pickles outside and that if you do they will start fermenting after several days (like sauerkraut), which is also delicious. There is a need to release the air buildup on a daily basis if you do that and to make sure that the pickles are completely submerged (by placing a weight on top) but otherwise the only difference is the time required. This would result in lactic acid fermentation, or what you may know as Kosher Pickles.