Achar

Pickled Vegetable Crudités in Spiced Vinegar

Achar was one of the last Chinese New Year items to be made, after the cookies and
before the cakes. To make the pickles, my mother bought sacks of cucumbers, carrots and
cauliflower, in addition to bags of spices and bottles of vinegar. It was a major endeavour
as she would selflessly stand for hours to chop the vegetables into the perfect-sized
crudités, not trusting many of us around her to cut them into the same shape or size.
A bottle of her famous pickled achar, along with a selection of cookies, a small lapis cake
and a pair of tangerines, made up my mother’s gift pack to her closest friends and relatives.

She collected glass bottles throughout the year, preferably Horlicks bottles. Soaked and
rid of its labels, these glass bottles were filled with the achar which could last a year or
more because she had added sodium benzoate, a preservative now considered carcinogenic.
Its spicy, tangy kick went especially well with other simpler Nonya specialties like
ngo hiang (page 73) or chap chai (page 61).

Many people often asked us how her pickles could stay crunchy past several months in
a refrigerated bottle. The secret, apparently, was the addition of slaked lime powder to the
water used to soak the cucumbers. I also discovered that this same slaked lime powder was
often added to Thai vegetable stir-fries to keep the vegetable crunchy.

makes about 8 kg or 17½ pounds

pickles

3 kg or 6½ pounds cucumbers
230 g or ½ pound carrots
1 large head cauliflower
½ large head cabbage

4 teaspoons slaked lime powder
(kapor)

4 cups salt
1¼ cups rice vinegar
2 cups water

spiced pickling solution

10 candlenuts (buah keras)
120 g or 2 ounces turmeric (kunyit)
4 red chillies
450 g or 1 pound shallots, peeled and diced

30 g or 1 ounce dried chillies, soaked in
hot water for at least 10 minutes

1 tablespoon belachan

340 g or 12 ounces peanut
brittle (tow tung), chopped roughly.*

1¼ ounces salt
3 tablespoons sesame seeds (bijan)
2 cups oil
450 g or 1 pound garlic, minced
5 cups rice vinegar
2½ cups water
1½ kg or 3 pounds sugar
140 g or 5 ounces salt

stuffed chillies

150 g or 5½ ounces large green chillies

200 g or 7 ounces dried shrimps,
soaked in hot water for 10 minutes

5 candlenuts
10 shallots, peeled and diced
1 teaspoon belachan
2 tablespoons sugar

*  Peanut brittle (tow tung) can be
substituted with sesame brittle for those
who have peanut allergy.

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