KITCHEN TABLE

OFFBEAT ACHAARS FOR THE ADVENTUROUS

 In Pickling Everything (The Countryman Press, $28.95), Leda Meredith shows how to turn everything from vegetables and fruits to eggs, cheese and nuts into crunchy, tangy side dishes bursting with flavour. There’s even a recipe for those still-green cherry tomatoes on the vine that you are wondering what to do with before frost turns them into mush.

LAGAN NU ACHAAR (DRIED FRUIT CHUTNEY)

Lagan Nu Achaar. Image credit: Pickling Everything by Leda Meredith.

1½ cups chopped dried apricots

1 cup raisins

10 dried dates, pits removed, chopped

2 pounds granulated sugar

3½ cups cider vinegar

4 pounds carrots

3½ tbsp peeled and minced fresh ginger

1 tsp kosher or other non-iodized salt

1½ tbsp garam masala

1 tsp red pepper flakes

Stir the apricots, raisins and dates together with 1 cup of the sugar and 1 cup of the vinegar.

Cover and let sit at room temperature overnight.

Peel the carrots. Either grate them on the coarse holes of the grater or pulse them in a food processor.

In a large pot, cook the carrots over medium heat together with the rest of the sugar and vinegar. Stir frequently.

When the carrots soften, add the ginger and salt.

Continue to cook until the consistency is that of a sticky syrup.

Add the dried fruits along with their soaking liquid.

Bring to a boil. Stir in the garam masala and red pepper flakes. The mixture should be thick enough to fall slowly off a spoon in a mass rather than pour. If it is not, boil it for a few more minutes.

Transfer to clean jars and store in the refrigerator.

Wait at least two weeks for the flavours to develop before serving.

FERMENTED GREEN CHUTNEY TOMATOES

Fermented Green Chutney Tomatoes. Image credit: Pickling Everything by Leda Meredith.

4 cups small green cherry tomatoes

½ cup sliced onion

4 garlic cloves

2 bay leaves

2 dill flower heads (or 3 sprigs fresh dill or 1 tsp dried dill weed)

1 tsp whole mustard seeds

½ tsp whole celery seed

4 whole allspice

4 whole black peppercorns

1 to 2 small hot chile peppers (optional)

3 tbsp kosher or other non-iodized salt

4 cups filtered or unchlorinated water

Wash the green cherry tomatoes. Pierce each with the tip of a sharp pairing knife once or twice. Alternatively, poke each tomato several times with a sewing needle. This ensures that the brine penetrates the tough skins.

Fill a clean glass quart jar with the tomatoes, adding the onion, garlic, bay leaves, dill, mustard and celery seeds, allspice and black pepper and the chile peppers as you go. It is not necessary to sterilize the jar, just make sure it’s clean. Tuck the bay leaves and dill in between the tomatoes and the sides of the jar if you want them to show.

In a separate bowl or container, add the salt to the water, stirring to dissolve.

Pour the liquid salt brine over the ingredients in the jar. The tomatoes need to be completely covered by the brine, and the brine should come all the way up to the rim of the jar. Save any leftover brine (you can store it in another clean jar in the refrigerator).

Place the jar of tomatoes on a small plate. Cover loosely with a canning lid. There will be some overflow (that’s what the plate is for).

Leave the jar out at room temperature for 5 to 7 days. Take off the lid once a day and check on the progress of your ferment. It should develop a pleasant, lightly sour scent after a few days, just like a dill cucumber pickle. Use the reserved salt brine to top up the jar, should the level of the liquid dip below the top of the food.

After the 5 to 7 days have passed, transfer the lacto-fermented green chile-tomato pickles to the refrigerator. You don’t need to keep a saucer under them at this point. The tomatoes are ready to eat once they have fermented for a week, but they will taste even more delicious if you can convince yourself to wait a full month after you move them into the refrigerator.

... AND A DELICIOUS EXCERPT

Image credit: Pickling Everything by Leda Meredith.

From Pickling Everything:

“It was an elderly lady named Lynette Muller who taught me the excellent tradition of always returning the jar after you finish the preserves someone gave you. I used to give Lynette a jar of homemade pickles or jelly on her birthday, and the jar always came back to me clean and ready to reuse. If she had time, she would fill the jar with something she’d made that was as yummy as what was originally inside. If she was short on time she would simply wash and thoughtfully return the jar. This custom of giving back the jar dates from the Depression era (or probably even earlier) when fruits and vegetables could be had for free from the garden or farm but canning jars cost cash on the table. It is a lovely and practical way to show gratitude, and one I hope you will continue. It also lets the person who gave you the jar know that you ate up all of the homemade goodness inside it.”

Pickling Everything by Leda Meredith is published by The Countryman Press, $28.95.