Malaysian pickled vegetables - Achar Awak

Last weekend was a bit of a Malaysian cooking odyssey for me – I thought I'd share this recipe for Achar Awak, pickled vegetables, which turned out very well indeed. They're the perfect side dish for any spicy Asian meal and go particularly well with curries or Beef Rendang (see recipe in previous post).

It's based on a recipe by that fountain of expertise on all things Malaysian Rick Stein. OK, so it might not be 100% authentic, but it was easy to do and delicious. I've got two jars of the stuff left in the fridge for the rest of the month. It will be gone come May...

ACHAR AWAK – Malaysian pickled vegetables

THE VEG
1 cucumber – cut into small chunks
4 carrots – cut into similar shaped small chunks
½ small white cabbage - cut into small slivers
100g green beans - in bite sized pieces
½ small cauliflower - in small florets
4 medium hot red and green chillies – sliced
2 shallots – thinly sliced

THE PASTE
50g ginger
3 not-too-hot dried chillies - soaked in water to soften
1tsp turmeric powder
1tsp shrimp paste (optional if you want it to have a funkiness)

THE REST
500ml distilled vinegar
250ml water
Vegetable oil
2tbsp sugar / palm sugar
100g roasted peanuts – chopped
1tsp salt

Put all the vegetables in a colander with 1tsp salt and let stand to draw out some of the water for 1hr. Bring the vinegar and water to a boil in a large pan, then blanch the vegetables in small batches for 1 minute once it's back up to the boil.

Make the spice paste in a blender with the ginger, soaked dried chillies and turmeric, adding a little water at the end to bring it together into a smooth paste. Fry this off for 5 minutes in a large pan, so it becomes darker and thick. Stir in the sugar and once cool mix in all the vegetables and the roasted peanuts. Check for seasoning - it may need more sugar or salt.

Put in cleaned pickle jars. This stuff gets better with time and will last about a month in the fridge.