Initially I made this pickle for two reasons; one, I had some extra zucchinis and two, I wanted to make my own tartar sauce and sweet relish. I confess I’m hardly a lover of pickled zucchinis / courgettes. Maybe because I’ve yet to taste a good one. Whenever we had burgers from McD’s, I’d pick out the scanty pickles inside which are rather abhorring. Why put it in at all when you’re only giving two stingy slices?
Anyway, I suppose making my own pickles is also a step towards curbing my dislike for it. I was picturing making chilli dogs with spoonfuls of sweet relish on top. I don’t know if I’ll say this is the best because I have never bought the jarred stuff in my life and have no comparison. Contrary to belief, not all women dig it during their pregnancy. But….it has served me well on occasions for making dipping sauces and they’re not bad in sandwiches either. I’m slowly etching away my aversion to it so in a way…it is a success.
PICKLED ZUCCHINI RECIPE
For one jar
Ingredients;
1 Zucchini
2 cups Grain vinegar
3 garlic cloves, peeled
Mustard seeds
Coriander seeds
Black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
Steps;
1. Heat vinegar slowly in a pot. As it becomes hot (but not boiling), toss in the garlic cloves, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, black peppercorns and fennel seeds and stir in the salt and sugar.
2. Half the zucchini and chop them into strips. Arrange them in the mason jar. Pour the vinegar solution into the jar along with the all the garlic and spices.
3. Screw the lid on and shake gently to let the solution get into all the tight spaces.
4. It’s ready to use in about a week.
Note; Make sure your jars are sterilized. I used my son’s bottle sterilizer for this task. If not, you can just boil them. If you have some dill, you can just as easily turn this into dill pickles.
Related recipes;
Dakgogi Wanja
Enjoy!
