vegetable shiokojizuke

harnessing the power of koji in a simple pickle

6 ingredients•Prep: 30 mins

Kenji Morimoto•

October 31, 2025

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.

Ingredients (6)

Carrot(100 g, peeled, halved, and thinly sliced )
Daikon radish(100 g, peeled, halved, and thinly sliced )
Green cabbage(150 g, roughly chopped into bite sized pieces )
Cucumber(150 g, thinly sliced at a diagonal )
Opt for small/baby cucumbers or Asian varieties that have less water and fewer seeds
Shio Koji (70 g)
Red chili(1, thinly sliced )

Instructions

Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl and decant into a container. Move to the fridge for a minimum of three hours + enjoy!

Notes

Any amount of vegetables can work, however I'd scale the recipe based on the total amount of vegetables (ie, roughly 70g of shiokoji per 500g of prepared vegetables).

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