自製台式泡菜🥬脆口不澀小秘訣 Homemade Taiwanese Pickled Vegetables: Crunchy, Not Bitter – Top Tips

I made Taiwanese pickled vegetables as per viewers’ requests. It’s a perfect crunchy appetizer for summer. Store-bought pickled veggies may lack flavor or hygiene. Making it is simple with great results. It pairs well with fried stinky tofu. I learned to love this on my first trip to Taiwan. Check the video for the recipe.

The last time I made stinky tofu, the comment section was full of people craving Taiwanese pickled vegetables. Today, Feiding is going to make this refreshing and crispy summer side dish, and share some tips on how to make it tasty and not astringent.

The store-bought pickled vegetables may have hygiene issues, and some freshly made ones are not flavorful enough, with certain vegetable varieties having an unpleasant raw taste. The preparation of this pickled vegetable is actually quite simple. As long as you pay attention to a few details, the texture and flavor can be greatly improved.

Taiwanese pickled vegetables can be eaten on their own, or used as a side dish for various cuisines. The refreshing taste can also help cut through the greasiness, making it a perfect pairing with deep-fried stinky tofu.

I remember when I first went to Taiwan, I fell in love with the Taiwanese pickled vegetables that were served as a side dish for stinky tofu. When ordering, I would specifically ask for extra pickled vegetables, and the boss would tease me, “You’re coming to eat stinky tofu, but all you want is the pickled vegetables?” After returning home, I really wanted to learn how to make this pickled vegetable dish, as well as the detailed recipe for Taiwanese stinky tofu, which you can find in another one of my videos.

◤Ingredients

• Napa cabbage (core removed) 1 head (about 700 g)
• Table salt 25 g (for pickling the cabbage)
• Table salt 1 tsp (for pickling the carrots)
• Carrot 1 piece
• Solo Shallot 2 pieces
• Chili peppers (I pass)

◤Pickling Vinegar Mixture

• White rice vinegar 300 g (using apple cider vinegar will result in a better taste, but it’s more expensive)
• Raw Rock Sugar 160 g
• Cooled drinking water 600 g
• Honey 50 g
• Fresh Lemon juice 50 ml
• Homemade sour plum 5 pieces (or store-bought sour plums)

◤Container

Don’t use plastic or metal containers for pickling, glass jars are the safest as they won’t have any chemical reactions that release harmful substances. It’s best to fill the glass jar completely with the ingredients, reducing the amount of air inside.

◤ Instructions

❶ The Napa cabbage used for making kimchi must be fresh, so that the final kimchi is crisp and sweet. You can try a small piece of the bought Napa cabbage to taste its freshness. The outer leaves usually have more pesticide residue, so it’s best to remove the outermost leaves. For quicker preparation, you can cut the cabbage into quarters to remove the core. I find tearing the leaves by hand gives a better texture than cutting with a knife – peel the leaves from the outside in, layer by layer. Napa cabbage leaves are densely packed, and pesticides may have penetrated into the inner leaves. Pesticides are also likely sprayed over the whole head during growing. The stem and stalk areas have more crevices that can trap pesticides, so fully submerge the leaves in running water for 3-5 minutes to wash them, then air-dry on a rack.

❷ Weigh the Napa cabbage.

❸ Add table salt in batches and mix evenly. Using a plastic bag to marinate the cabbage is quicker, but I don’t want to waste a bag each time, so I prefer adding the salt in stages and mixing in a glass dish.

❹ Shred the carrot into fine strips, add table salt and mix evenly.

❺ Place the carrot on top of the Napa cabbage, let sit for 1 hour to allow the flavors to infuse and for moisture to be drawn out.

❻ Crush the raw brown sugar to speed up dissolving.

❼ In a pot, add white rice vinegar and the crushed raw brown sugar. Heat gently until the sugar completely dissolves, without bringing to a boil. Heating can cause the key flavor compounds in vinegar, like acetic acid and fermentation-derived aromatic compounds, to evaporate, so avoid boiling.

❽ Add room temperature drinking water to cool the vinegar mixture down. Only add the honey when the vinegar has cooled to 40°C, to preserve the honey’s flavor.

❾ Peel and crush the garlic cloves. I prefer using single-clove garlic as it has a milder spiciness than regular multi-clove garlic. Crushing the garlic releases a lot of allicin, which can make you thirsty after eating, so I just lightly crush it.

❿ Adding pickled plum can give the kimchi a deeper sourness. You can use your own homemade pickled plum, or store-bought.

⓫ After 1 hour, the Napa cabbage will have released a lot of water containing bitterness from the vegetables. Discard this water, then soak the cabbage and carrot in freshly boiled and cooled drinking water with ice cubes for 10 minutes, to make them crisper.

⓬ Soak the carrot in the ice water as well to remove excess salt, then drain the vegetables well, pressing out any remaining water. Don’t discard this water, but use it to press back onto the vegetables. The drier the vegetables are, the better the texture of the final kimchi will be, and the longer it will keep.

⓭ Layer the marinated Napa cabbage and carrot into a glass jar, adding in the pickled plum, garlic, and chili flakes if desired. Squeeze in some lemon juice to add more complexity to the vinegar sourness.

⓮ Pour in the completely cooled vinegar mixture, ensuring it covers all the vegetables. This step is crucial to ensure even distribution of the vinegar.

⓯ Cover and refrigerate for 2 days before eating. Use sterilized, dry utensils when handling, and keep refrigerated after opening.