Pickled Young Ginger

I made this Pickled Young Ginger


to eat with this - Century Egg.


Never would I thought I would be able to create this at home, not until Wendy posted it on her blog. Though there were lots of steps involved, it was not too difficult as the illustration given by her was very very very detailed, with pictorial guide even. Thanks Wendy!

I tried with only a quarter of the recipe to get one jar. For 500g, I got about 4 pieces of young ginger about palm-size, and it was RM3.50. Sufficient to try my hands on making it, and enough to justify the time and effort. In fact, after trying the result, I wished I had done more, as it was very crunchy yet not too fiery hot. Besides eating it with century egg, I even snack on it as this pickled young ginger aids in digestion.

PICKLED YOUNG GINGER
Source: Table for 2
Ingredients:
500g young ginger
1 heaped tablespoon salt
150g rice vinegar
150g sugar

Method:
1/ Use a knife, scrape off all the skin of young ginger, then rinse it well.
2/ Slice the ginger thinly using a mandolin, then put salt over young ginger.
3/ Toss it well and let young ginger sit for a minimum of 30 minutes until it is pliable. Means it is limp.
*Young ginger will turn colour to slightly pinkish, but it is ok, don't worry*
4/ Boil vinegar and sugar together until sugar dissolves, then turn off the heat and set this aside to cool down.
5/ Rinse the salted young ginger and squeeze it dry, repeat again this process.
6/ Pour boiling water over young ginger and ensure all the pieces of young ginger are heated so as to rinse off the fiery taste.
7/ Pour the young ginger over a colander and let it drip dry and cool down.
8/ When the young ginger has cooled down, squeeze it as dry as possible.
* Young ginger slices should taste salted but not too salty at this stage, but should no longer taste very fiery*
9/ Place young ginger into a non-reactive vessel (be it glass, ceramic or stainless steel) and pour the cooled *it is ok if the vinegar is not cooled down per Wendy as this won't soften the young ginger slices* vinegar syrup over it. Sitr gently with clean chopsticks and let this sit for at least 2 days before consumption.
* Vinegar syrup might appear thick initially but after mixing it with the young ginger for awhile, it will be diluted to water consistency*