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Sometimes I like to cook things that take TIME. As tempting as the Thermomix revolution is, I do like to chop and stir and simmer and baste.
Yesterday, I made Picalilli. I have never ever really thought about making pickles ever before, but in the spirit of the ‘If Project‘ – I HAD to make something truly British, you cannot get more British than Picalilli…
Picalilli is traditionally cauliflower and other ‘marrowy’ vegetables in a yellow mustard sauce (made more yellow by the use of turmeric). I love that spices like turmeric and ginger that are not at all British, but rather spices that have been snaffled from the ‘Colonies’ are brought back to the United Kingdom and used in a lot of ‘British’ food.
I thought that making pickles would be really tricky, it was not. The process is actually really simple, but it takes time, like, half a day for the process of salting the vegetables. But, it is very satisfying and brought out my inner 1950s-haus-frau-geekiness.
This recipe makes a lot, be very prepared! Also, Op-shops are a great place to pick up good quality jars, choose ones with labels easy to remove and lids with no rust or mould.
Ready to get your pickles on? Let’s go!
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Difficulty: Medium {Not hard but time consuming}
Prep Time: Chopping – 30 mins Salting Time: 3 hours
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Jar Sterilising: 20 mins
Makes: Over 1kg = 6 X 400gram jars approx
Ingredients:
900 grams of cauliflower – cut into very small florets and then roughly chopped
400grams cucumber – sliced and diced finely
300 grams green beans – sliced into 1cm lengths
200 grams red capsicum – sliced and finely diced
100 grams zuchini – sliced and finely diced
2 large brown onions – finely diced
1/2 cup salt
3 cups apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup brown sugar – firmly packed
3 cloves of garlic – crushed
3 cm piece of fresh ginger – finely grated
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp allspice
1 tbsp mustard powder
1 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
1/3 cup plain flour
Method
1. Cut all the vegetables, cut them to be as fine or as chunky as you like. I didn’t want a pickle that was too chunky, so I tended to go finer rather than courser.
2. Sprinkle the vegetables with some of the salt, mix to coat. Allow to sit for an hour. Rinse. Repeat this three times.
3. Put the vinegar, sugar, garlic and ginger and allspice into a large saucepan. Bring to the boil over high heat, dissolving the sugar. Add the vegetable mixture, cover and return to the boil. Cook uncovered for 5-7 minutes.
4. Mean while – sterilise the jars – this is how I did it… Sterilising Jars
5. Mix the flour, mustard powder and mustard seeds with some water to make a paste. Mix this through the vegetables, cook for a further 5 minutes.
6. Carefully spoon the Picalilli into hot jars and seal while still hot.
7. The picalilli should keep for a long time once it is all sealed in the jars, the little pop up things on the top of my jars popped up again – I hope this means they will last for a long time!
Serving Suggestions…
- These are the kind of pickle that gets put on the plate, rather than spread on sandwiches – if that makes sense?
- Serve with cold meats like; ham, haddock and other smoked meats
- PERFECT for a Ploughman’s Lunch; think crispy bread, bitey cheese, piccalilli and a crisp cider – YUMMY!
- Also great to add to a cheese platter with some great crackers and fabulously rich and sharp cheese…
- Make sure you serve out your Picallili on a very cool retro plate – or tray – don’t you just LOVE this funky serving plate I picked up at an Op-Shop a while ago? I am on the hunt for some wooden handled cocktail forks to go with it (then I might need to pickle me some onions!)
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Variations…
- You can use almost any vegetables in your pickles, I love that cauliflowers are in season, so they are perfect to use and means I get cauliflower for a few more months yet!
- You can also diddle with the spices, you can add some curry powder or use more Indian spices like cumin or coriander, or to spice it up you could put in a 1/8 of a teaspoon of chilli, but then you are not making true Picalilli…
Have you ever made pickles?
Or chutney?
Or relish?
I am linking this recipe into Domesblissity today for Thriving on Thursday…