Daikon and Carrot Pickles

Ben made some daikon and carrot pickles as appetizer at home. I’m impressed by his patience in cutting the daikon and carrot into the match stick size.

These daikon and carrot refrigerator pickles are found in Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches and is known as “do chua”. Some Chinese restaurants also serve this as appetizers along with fried peanuts.

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds of daikon, peeled (we used 1 large daikon)
  • 2 pounds of carrots, peeled (we used 1 large Asian style carrot)
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 4 teaspoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 1/2 cups white vinegar
  • 2 cups warm water (warm enough to dissolve the sugar)

Source: this recipe is adapted from simplyrecipes.com

(more…)

Continue ReadingDaikon and Carrot Pickles

Homemade Sambal Chili with Dried Shrimps

Ben found a pack of belachan in the store room. I must have bought it a while ago but reluctant to cook it as it will stink up the apartment.

Ben decided to use it to make some Sambal Belachan with Dried Shrimps as a condiment for rice or noodle dishes. We love sambal belachan but making it at home will require me to burn a lot of scented candles to get rid of the smell.

Ingredients

  • 50g dried shrimps (soaked in 1 cup of water, reserved soaking liquid)
  • 200g shallots
  • 30g garlic
  • 20g ginger
  • 1/4 cooking oil
  • 25g dried chili – hydrated (deseeded if you do not want it to be too spicy)
  • 150g fresh chili (deseeded if you do not want it to be too spicy)
  • 4 stalks of lemongrass (use white part only)
  • 50g dried toasted belacan
  • 1/2 cup cooking oil
  • 2 teaspoons sugar

Another reason Ben is able to make the sambal belachan is we managed to find fresh red chilies in the groceries stores like T&T.

Source: Spice N’ Pans

(more…)

Continue ReadingHomemade Sambal Chili with Dried Shrimps