Cauliflower Sweet Piccalilli
A delicious recipe for pickling vegetables in vinegar to preserve them. Perfect to give as a gift or for saving veg until you fancy eating something extra tasty. Most piccalilli recipes we’ve seen are missing a treat by not using the leaves and stem of the cauliflower. If you don’t have a certain vegetable think about the flavour and texture of it and then add in something you do have.
Makes about 2 litres
Ingredients
1 small cauliflower, cut into small florets, stalk chopped into batons and leaves shredded
2 onions, diced
1 cucumber or courgette, deseeded and cut into large dice (use the middle as a hydrating snack or to flavour water)
75 grams of green beans, cut into 1-centimetre strips (optional)
400 millilitres of white vinegar (white wine, cider or distilled)
50 grams of sea salt
75 grams of sugar (caster is perfect but whatever you have)
Garlic clove, bashed (optional)
3 teaspoons of mustard (English is great but whatever you have)
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
10 grams of flour (corn flour or plain flour)
2 tablespoons of turmeric
Method
Put the washed and chopped veg in a bowl and toss with the sea salt. Leave, covered at room temperature, for at least 20 minutes. Drain the veg and wash well under cold water. Drain well. Heat the vinegar, sugar, garlic, mustard, ginger and turmeric and a pinch of salt until the sugar dissolves. Add in the drain veg and boil for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile mix the corn flour with half a glass of cold water and stir to make a paste, then pour in with the vinegar veg mix and stir for a few minutes until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat, and pack into warm sterilised jars.
Seal and leave in a cool dark place until you wish to give it as a gift or eat with friends and family.
