Japanese

the best way to make the most of your cherry tomatoes 

Dairy-Free

Side

Pickling & Preserving

These cherry tomatoes pickled in a ginger forward dashi (fish broth) are incredible.  Yes, a bit fiddly in terms of process (and yes, you can use larger tomatoes) however cherry tomatoes are the perfect size to get maximum pickling (more so marination).  

This recipe uses Shiro dashi, which is a concentrated Japanese soup base usually made with dashi (fish broth), soy sauce, and mirin.  Normal dashi can be used but you'll want to season it with Japanese soy sauce, mirin, and sugar (either sugar or mirin) so best to cross check some recipes if you can't find Shiro Dashi, however this can generally be found in most Japanese grocery stores. 

Garnishing can get creative - I've noted katsuo bushi (dried shaved bonito flakes) and shiso (julienned), but toasted sesame seeds are also a great addition.  

This is one pickle that's great in a lot of other dishes - tossed into salads, served with creamy yogurt, or of course, alongside a Japanese meal. 

cherry tomato dashizuke 

Vegetarian

Vegan

I grew up with this tsukemono always in our fridge - excellent (and well known) as an accompaniment to Japanese curry, a staple in Japanese homes, but due to its crunchy texture and variety of flavours, it's really just a perfect pickle to be appreciated against the blank canvas of rice. 

Fun fact - but as a child, I was obsessed with the seven lucky gods (七福神), seven gods of Japanese mythology, and the namesake of this tsukemono.  Why?  Well - it has seven ingredients.  Clever, huh. 

There's a fair amount of prep needed in this pickle due to the seven ingredients but in terms of process, it's quite easy.  It lasts in the fridge for a few weeks but the flavours may dilute so best eaten within 2 weeks. 

fukujinzuke 

citrusy savoury pickles (and did I mention it's low waste?) 

If you know me, you won't be surprised to see a watermelon rind pickle.  I really love watermelon rind, as once the peel is off, the texture is reminiscent of a dense cucumber - ideal for pickling (or fermenting).  Here, I've given it a rather normal pickling treatment - first salting it for a few hours to remove some of its water content, and then brining it in ponzu.  Ponzu is an increasingly common Japanese sauce, soy + citrus based with a fair amount of zing.  It's delicious on salads and often served with gyoza (dumplings) in Japan. 

You can, of course, use shop bought ponzu but it's actually quite easy to make (and uses pantry ingredients) and allows you to adjust the flavours based on your own personal preferences (ie, using other forms of citrus such as orange, lemon, or lime). 

Enjoy this one after a few hours (however best enjoyed the next day) and best eaten within 10 days! 

watermelon rind ponzuzuke 

harnessing the power of koji in a simple pickle 

Gluten-Free

There is so much one can do with koji but making shio koji is one of the best (and easiest) things you can do; it's essentially koji fermented in a salt water brine and luckily, shiokoji is available commercially nowadays (look online or check out your local Japanese grocery store).  As with many koji products, it not only adds umami but really amplifies the natural flavours of the vegetables. 

This recipe is simple and this quick ferment can work with most vegetables.  Here I've gone for the common veg I always have in my fridge, however if you go with other varieties, just ensure they're all prepared similarly in size as everything will pickle at the same rate.  

I've just added red chilli in terms of aromatics, but thinly sliced ginger is also very good here. 

I like to eat these rather fresh and I'd suggest eating them within 7-10; water will continue to be drawn from the vegetables so the flavours can dilute over time. 

vegetable shiokojizuke 

Snack

This is a variety of shoyuzuke (or pickled in shoyu) and can work with a variety of mushrooms - I'd suggest going for Asian varieties (and ones that aren't too big as larger ones have more water content) and particularly, ones that have small caps as this is all part of the beauty of this pickle.  I really find these quite whimsical - not just cute but beautiful when plating or adding an element to a dish. 

Traditionally, these are eaten as a side dish (on top of tofu, for example) but I love mixing it into Japanese preparations of rice - think chirashi, mazegohan, or takikomigohan.  But they're also delicious with eggs, in an omelette, or added to a sandwich or salad.   

mushroom shoyuzuke 

I'm Buddhist and the lotus has always been a part of that story - from muddy waters, beautiful blossoms arise.  That was one of the ideas behind this pickle, giving it even more beauty through dying it naturally with beetroot. 

Due to the starchiness of the lotus root, it's best eaten within a week or two, and how to eat it?  Well given it's sweet and sour tang, it's a great addition to a pickle platter (as it's just so beautiful) or chopped into a salad, but if you're leaning into Japanese cuisine, mix it into rice (chirashi or a mazegohanv) or serve it alongside sushi.  Your guests will be impressed.

Consider adding aromatics to this if you choose - some of my favourite are dried chilli (thinly sliced), ginger, or lemon peel. 

lotus root amazuzuke 

This is - in many ways - a perfect example of classic Japanese flavours in a crunchy bite, and adds visual diversity to your pickle plate if you cube or baton your daikon, the latter of which I did here. Another slightly "unusual" element with this one is the inclusion of sesame oil which really elevates this dish, adding a delicious smoky nuttiness to the pickle.

It’s best to eat these immediately (aka within ~10 days) as the salt/acid content is not high enough for long term storage.

Shiokombu (salted kombu) is necessary here and normal kombu seaweed cannot be used as a replacement.  

daikon shiokombuzuke 

an ode to persimmon + childhood memories of the perfect cut fruit 

Appetizer

What you’ll find with Japanese pickles is that many of them are QUICK, especially any under the asazuke (浅漬け) category (meaning quick or lightly pickled).  

Whilst the Japanese palate can lean sweet with many pickles mirroring this, this asazuke doesn’t have any additional sugar due to the natural sweetness of the apple cider vinegar and persimmon.  Unique umami comes from the shio kombu or salted seaweed - I’d recommend you find this (commonly available online or from Japanese grocery stories) as it’s an incredible ingredient and normal kombu won’t work as well here (if you only have normal kombu I’d recommend not using it due to the speediness of this “pickle”). 

I love the combination of the persimmon with the turnip, the latter providing a subtle heat.  Pro tip: eat the turnip and persimmon slices together in one bit for an explosion of flavour. 

This series has been so cathartic in reflecting on my childhood and the food memories instilled by my grandparents and parents.  Persimmon is a favourite for most of my family but this is a celebration of the appreciation for seasonality my mom showed me from a young age. 

persimmon + turnip asazuke 

Let's transform the humble radish into one of my favourite (and one of the easiest) pickles, a form of amazuzuke or sweet vinegar pickle.  This radish amazuzuke is quite striking in colour but also fun in size, and is similar to my easy at home method for making takuan (the yellow daikon sweet vinegar pickles many of you are familiar with).  

The brine is fairly universal (and customisable - feel free to add other aromatics) and can be used for other vegetables, but there's something so perfect about a whole pickled small radish: beautiful on a pickle platter or in a bento box, and just the perfect size. 

radish amazuzuke 

きゅうりのポリポリ漬け - crunchy, munching, and oh so delicious 

This cucumber tsukemono is a variety of shoyuzuke, or pickled in a soy sauce based brine.  As with many of these pickles, there's a beautiful balance of acid from the apple cider vinegar, sweetness from mirin (and of course, the sugar), and umami from the soy. The aromatics are strong with this one - add more to your own personal taste. 

Note the type of cucumbers I used for this - larger water bound varieties are not ideal (usually also have thicker skin and more seeds).  Also, you'll note that I used a paper towel when pickling - this is a common Japanese trick to keep everything submerged to ensure a more consistent brining. 

crunchy cucumber pickles 

quick short-cut version of the classic yellow pickle 

What I love most about these are its sweetness, crunch, and bright yellow hue.  

Traditionally, making takuan is quite the lengthy process: dehydrating whole daikon in the sun followed by several months of fermentation in a rice bran bed.  I don't know who has time for that - especially when we were kids with two working parents - so we opted for this much simpler version which is vinegar based (more like an amazuzuke, or sweet vinegar pickle).  Turmeric is key here for that distinctive yellow. 

These are familiar pickles - often seen across Japanese and Korean cuisine.  Slice them into strips for gimbap or makizushi or eat it alongside your next rice bowl (or even tucked into a sandwich!). 

easy takuan 

one of my favourite seasonal twists to misozuke 

Misozuke is a form of tsukemono (Japanese pickles) where miso is the main fermentation agent.  This same method can work for various vegetables - such as daikon and cucumber - and even protein such as tofu and meat (!!), however for it to properly ferment, you’ll need to ensure the miso used is unpasteurised (or homemade!); using miso alone can work however the addition of the mirin adds a gentle sweetness. 

And what to do with the fairly liquified miso? The miso itself doesn’t extract a ton of flavour from the rhubarb (which may surprise you given how much water there is from the rhubarb), so you can use it just as you’d use miso in your kitchen! 

rhubarb misozuke 

Kohlrabi Misozuke is a variety of misozuke, or Japanese tsukemono where the mode of pickling is miso.

"Zuke" means to pickle in Japanese.  So Miso - zuke, pickled in miso, get it? 

Many varieties of veg will work with this type of pickling however the way in which you prepare the veg (surface area!) + the amount of time in the pickling bed will be the two variables to balance.  A carrot slice will take more time than a piece of cabbage - both will work, but the timing will vary based on the structure of the veg. 

But with many of my recipes, you'll be the judge to know when you're happy with the flavour but I'm going for deeply savoury + crunchy.  The type of pickles you can appreciate just with a simple bowl of rice.  That said, I recently served these alongside some kimchi toasties and it was fantastic. 

Misozuke contains multitudes - some methods just use miso as the pickling bed, others, such as the one below, is sweeter and flavoured with kombu + ginger.  Like it spicy?  Throw in a whole dried chilli pepper.  But start basic and then start playing around with flavours.

tsukemono | 漬物