Do you like pickles? Honestly, I am not much of a fan. I have never liked pickles on my hamburgers, or hot dogs, or sandwiches, or basically anything else. Right before I came to Japan, I started to develope a liking for diced sweet pickles in my Tuna-fish sandwiches. But that was the only acceptable place for them, in my opinion.
Japanese pickles, however, are a different breed. According to Wikipedia, Japanese pickles, or Tsukemono, are usually "pickled in salt or brine," rather than vinegar. This gives it a very different taste from dill pickles back home. I tend to like Japanese pickles much better. They also pickle many other vegetables- daikon (Large, white radish), cucumber, turnips, cabbage, ginger, plums... A wide variety of tasty, crunchy pickles to dine upon.
Everyday Harumi has a quick and easy recipe for pickles that uses a mix of rice vinegar (I know, I know, I just spent a paragraph telling you how Japanese pickles didn`t use vinegar! I`m sorry, I will do better next time!), soy sauce, and sesame oil.
Prep was super easy. A few interesting tips: rub the cucumbers with salt for a minute or two. This helps remove any bitter flavors and helps the cucs maintain a lovely color. Also, remove the center seeds with a spoon. Add the broken-up/sliced up cucs to a bag along with some julienned ginger and the vinegar-sauce mix and let sit in the fridge for 2-3 hours. Pickles will keep for 2-3 days.
Overall, I was pleased with this recipe. Despite the use of vinegar, the pickles had a far more Japanese-pickle flavor. I did, however, feel that the soy-sauce/sesame oil ratio was a bit high. Next time I will experiment with less of those.
Also, next on the pickle-agenda... perhaps next time I will attempt something more like THIS.
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