Achara-zuke Pickles

Name: Achara-zuke Pickles
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: cucumber 200 g; eggplant 100 g; lotus root 100 g; carrot 50 g; dried wood ear mushroom 10 g; shiso leaves 5 g; ginger 10 g; red chili 7 g; rice vinegar 7 ml; dashi 30 ml; salt 3.5 g; sugar 20 g

Quick answer

Total time: 35 min
Level: Easy
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients: 12

About this dish

Thin slices of cucumber, eggplant, lotus root and carrot share the bowl with chewy wood ear mushroom, shiso and ginger, and each bite lands somewhere different on the crunch scale.

Each vegetable is prepped on its own terms: the hard lotus root and carrot get a short blanch, while the softer cucumber and eggplant are rubbed with salt instead. The sweet vinegar with sliced red chili is boiled once and then cooled all the way down. Poured on while still warm, it costs the cucumber and lotus root their snap. Squeezing the salted cucumber and eggplant hard after rinsing keeps the dressing from going watery. Half an hour in the fridge is enough before serving it cold with its liquid.

Ingredients

servings

IngredientAmount

dried wood ear mushroom

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Instructions

5 steps

1

Combine 7ml rice vinegar, 30ml dashi, 20g sugar, 2g salt, and 7g thinly sliced red chili in a saucepan.

Bring once to a boil, turn off the heat, and cool completely to room temperature.
2

Halve 200g cucumber lengthwise, remove the seeds, and slice thinly.

Thinly slice 100g eggplant, divide the remaining 1.5g salt between both vegetables, and massage for 10 minutes.
3

Thinly slice 100g lotus root and 50g carrot.

Boil for 2 minutes, drain thoroughly, spread out, and cool to room temperature.
4

Soak 10g dried wood ear mushroom in water, squeeze dry, and shred.

Rinse the salted cucumber and eggplant, then press firmly to remove excess water.
5

Shred 5g shiso leaves and 10g ginger.

Mix them with all prepared vegetables and mushrooms in the cooled sweet vinegar. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to season, then serve with a little pickling liquid.