A WEEKLY HOME COOKING COLUMN FEATURING QUICK RECIPES WITH LOCALLY SOURCED INGREDIENTS

KOREAN PICKLED RADISH, CARROTS, AND RED ONION

There's more to pickling than dill! You will love this gently sweet and tangy quick pickle method. 

I love quick pickling recipes. 

This recipe takes 15 minutes to prepare and after a good rest time, can be ready in as soon as 2 hours and used for WEEKS! 

All three ingredients are great in-season produce for our area this time of year. By using your produce fresh on the first day in a salad, or with sandwiches and wraps, you get one great meal cycle placement. Then you can use these ingredients on days 2, 3, and 4.

Some great use ideas are soups, stir-fry, and other fun dishes. Then, everything left goes in a jar with brine, and you have weeks more use in those fresh local foods. 

This recipe offers a fresh, crisp, crunch, and sweet-tangy flavor. Make sure you follow a trusted brine recipe. That's important to get right for the preservation.

USES

When you have a variety of pickled and fermented vegetables, it adds inexpensive versatility to quick meals like: 

• Quickly scrambled eggs, rice, and pickled veggies in a bowl. 

• Ramen with fresh veggies, fermented cabbage, pickled carrots, radish, and onion. 

• Salads—greens, microgreens, tuna, pickled veggies, aioli.

• Sandwiches—Bahn MI (featured is a salmon Bahn MI).

KOREAN PICKLED CARROTS, RADISH, AND RED ONIONS

This takes 15 minutes to prepare and after a good rest time, can be ready in as soon as 2 hours and used for WEEKS! 

You will need a glass jar with a tight lid. If the lid is meta, line with plastic wrap or parchment paper. Metal touching pickling can create problems.  

INGREDIENTS

• 5 oz—Radishes. Daikon is traditional, but any radish is lovely. You can find them locally with a few growers like Arrowhead Urban Farms or Better Food Farms. (Both have @)

• 10 oz—Fresh carrots. Using local carrots in this recipe during this time of year in Utah is ideal because the cold gives the carrots a sweet snap. Check the same mentioned growers. 

• ½ cup Red Onion

• 1 tablespoon salt

• 1 cup filtered water

• 1 cup cane sugar

• ¾ cup rice vinegar, available very well priced at Ocean Mart. 

• ¼ cup honey wine harvest apple vinegar from Urban Prairie website.

INSTRUCTIONS

Prepare the brine first. 

In a pot on medium heat, dissolve the sugar, water, and salt. Bring to a gentle boil. Remove from heat. Cool while you prepare the vegetables.

Thinly slice radishes, carrots, and onion. I use a peeler or a grater. They pickle in an hour at that thinness but lose crunch faster that way too. Place the radish, carrots, and onion in a clean glass jar, gently intermixed. 

Once the water, sugar, and salt mixture is cool, add vinegar and mix well. Pour brine over veggies. Cover with a tight lid. Let sit for 1 hour. Refrigerate for 1 hour and enjoy!