Quick Pickled Vegetables

Pickling brings new life to vegetables creating a totally delicious flavour whilst extending the shelf life. This quick and easy method was inspired by Ali Daly – The Messy Cheffy who shares the most divine looking recipes on Instagram. 

This is a great way to extend the life of your vegetables (especially good for those veges that you may have forgotten about in the fridge) whilst adding a burst of flavour. I love having a couple of jars in the fridge to quickly spice up a salad, sandwich or vegetarian tacos.

My favourite combo right now is capsicum with red onion and zucchini with cucumber, both pictured.

However you can use an array of vegetables including zucchini, cucumbers, cabbage, onions, radishes, cauliflower, beans and even bok choy.

Quick Pickled Vegetables

1 cup apple cider vinegar or white cooking vinegar, or rice wine vinegar for a more delicate flavour.

vegetables of your choice, enough to fill your jar

1/2 cup water

1 tsp rock salt or himalayan salt

2 tsp chopped fresh dill

3 cloves sliced garlic

1 bay leaf

1 tsp whole black peppercorns

A pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

Thinly slice your vegetables, I used a mandolin for the cucumbers and zucchini. Place in jars with the liquid, shake and leave in the fridge for a day to let the flavours combine. The red pepper flakes had a hint of spice, I find they work well with capsicums and red onions but I left out the dill (jar on the right in the picture)

Another combination that I love is 2 tbs mustard seeds, 1 tsp turmeric and 1 tsp cumin seeds – take out the garlic, dill and black peppercorns.

These last for several weeks in the refrigerator – I’ve kept mine for over a month and add to the jars to keep the flavour going.