If you are looking to add more vegetable servings in your diet but feel lazy about coming up with veggie item for every meal, this is a great make-ahead dish. Make a zipped plastic bag full of this and you could be set for a week. It adds much needed colors and nutrients to a meal.
My husband loves this pickled vegetables and I add a lot on the side of every meat dish we have. It also goes with a nice chilled glass of Chardonnay. I always make 2 bags but lasts only a week or so. You can keep it in the fridge for a few weeks. Vinegar will increase your appetite and promote good digestion. I use rice vinegar here, but it can be substituted with white vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
Which vegetables to use is up to you. I like to add many colors so I usually use 5-6 types of vegetables in different colors. Cutting all the pieces can take time but think about the time you are saving in a week to follow. I sharpen my knife before I start, and it feels almost therapeutic while I go through all ingredients.
Ingredients:
Make 1 bag of pickles
- Red pepper 1 large
- Yellow pepper 1 large
- Daikon 2 pieces of half inch slices of about 3 inch diameter daikon, pealed
- Carrot 2 small or 1 large, pealed
- Celery 2 stalks
- English (seedless) cucumber 1/2
- Rice vinegar 1/2 cup
- Water 1/2 cup
- Agave or sugar 3 tbsp
Directions:
- Peal daikon and carrot. I usually use whole carrot if it’s organic, but vinegar will darken the carrot skin so this is an exception. Slice all vegetables into 1/4 inch slices, except carrot. Since carrot is denser and harder, slice it thinner than other ingredients, about 1/8 inch slices. Place all cut vegetables in a zipped plastic bag.
- Mix vinegar, water, and agave in a bowl. Pour in the bag.
- Try to press out as much air as possible when you seal. The vinegar mix may seem not enough but taking air out will help submerge all vegetables in the bag.
- Before you place it in the fridge, make sure the bag is sealed completely, and try to fold the the zipped edge so that it stays upward. You don’t want the liquid leaking in the fridge.
- Put in the fridge and wait at lease 12 hours before you eat. I like it after it’s pickled for 2 days.