Pickled Carrots - Quick Pickled Carrot Sticks

So there is this old grandma version of pickling fresh veggies like carrots and raw papayas which needs the crispies to be soaked in salt vinegar bath for weeks. No, this is not that version. Here is a toast to instant pickled carrots.

Add or minus the crispies of your choice. You could go for carrots or baby cucumbers or raw papaya or fresh jalapeños or sliced onion. If your taste buds ask for the spice kick, feel free to add in chopped chillies or you could forget about it.

This instant version of pickle takes no time to take in all those flavours because of the one additional step you would do - Blanching. Cooking the veggies in boiling water for 1 minute and immediately cooling it changes the texture of the vegetable. Almost in an instant the carrot would be soft and yet crisp from inside with all the goodness of the flavour. 

Here is what you’ll need:

2-3  carrots

½ cup apple cider vinegar

½ cup water

3/4 tbsp sugar

3/4 tbsp salt

2 green chillies finely chopped

2 cloves garlic

Method:

• Keep the pickling liquid ready by mixing the vinegar, water, sugar and salt. To the liquid add 2 crushed garlic and finely chopped green chillies.
• Wash, peel and chop the carrot into juliennes.
•  In a pot, bring salt water to a boil and blanch the carrot sticks for 1 minute.
• Immediately drain the boiling water and rinse the carrots with cold water to stop the cooking process.
• Transfer the carrot to the pickling liquid.
• Garnish with mint/cilantro/dill leaves for extra flavour.

      

      Also Read: Carrot - The root for health! in the Nutri-knowhow column and Carrot Pudding/ Gajar ka halwa and Carrot Cake in The Kitchen Counter column. 

Post by Zohra Sada